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NUMBER  14 


SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

BY 

HENRY  DWIGHT  SEDGWICK,  JR. 


SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 


BY 


HENRY  DWIGHT  SEDGWICK,  JR. 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 
fiitosi&e  press,  Cambribge 

1902 


COPYRIGHT,   1902,   BY   HENRY  DWIGHT   SEDGWICK,  JR. 
ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 


Published  March, 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  YOUTH,  AND  VOYAGE  TO  MEXICO      .        .  1 

II.  FIRST  VOYAGE  TO  NORTH  AMERICA      .  16 

III.  SECOND  VOYAGE;    WINTER  AT    ISLE   ST. 

CROIX 32 

IV.  PORT  ROYAL     ......  47 

V.   FIRST  YEAR  AT  QUEBEC,  1608-1609.        .  61 

VI.  CANADIAN  AFFAIRS,  1610-1613       .        .  78 
VII.  THE  OTTAWA  RIVER;    THE    RECOLLETS; 

THE  HURONS 92 

VIII.   QUEBEC,  1616-1635 110 


The  portrait  follows  the  painting  by  Th. 
Hamel  after  the  Moncornet  Portrait. 


227639 


SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 


YdUTH,  AND  VOYAGE  TO  MEXICO 

THE  story  of  Champlain's  life  is  the 
story  of  the  foundation  of  French  empire 
in  America.  Champlain  himself  had  all  the 
qualities  of  a  successful  colonist,  but,  as  the 
events  of  his  life  show,  there  was  some  fatal 
weakness  in  France  which  did  not  suffer  her 
to  found  enduring  colonies.  In  order  fully 
to  comprehend  the  causes  of  her  ultimate 
failure,  we  should  have  to  study  the  history 
of  France  in  the  sixteenth  century,  with  its 
civil  and  religious  wars ;  and  as  that,  in  its 
turn,  is  explained  by  the  great  struggle  be- 
tween Latin  and  Teutonic  civilizations,  of 
which  the  chief  expression  was  the  Reforma- 
tion, we  should  wander  far  afield.  As  Bacon 
says,  it  were  infinite  to  seek  the  cause  of 


£  CHAMPLAIN 

causes,  and  so  throughout  the  story  we  must 
remember  that  the  failure  of  the  colony  at 
Port  Eoyal,  and  the  weakness  of  the  little 
settlements  along  the  St.  Lawrence,  were  not 
due  to  the  men  on  the  spot,  but  to  remote 
causes  across  the  Atlantic. 

Champlain  was  born  in  the  year  1567,  a 
most  interesting  time.  The  flood  of  life, 
swelling  upon  the  discovery  of  a  new  world, 
upon  the  knowledge  of  astronomy,  navigation, 
and  geography,  upon  printing  and  bills  of 
exchange,  swept  over  western  Europe  on- 
ward and  upward.  In  England  Elizabeth 
was  finishing  the  first  ten  years  of  her  reign, 
Francis  Drake  was  captain  of  his  first  ship, 
Raleigh,  Sidney,  and  Spenser  were  lads,  Ba- 
con, Marlowe,  and  Shakespeare  little  boys. 
To  the  south  of  the  Pyrenees  Philip  II.  was 
reigning  and  ruining,  Cervantes  had  begun 
to  write  sonnets,  Lope  de  Vega  was  five  years 
old.  In  the  Netherlands  William  the  Silent 
was  marshaling  Dutch  obstinacy  in  support 
of  liberty.  In  Italy  Giordano  Bruno  was  a 
young  Dominican  friar,  and  Galileo  could 
toddle  out  of  his  father's  house  to  watch 
the  evening  stars. 


YOUTH,  AND  VOYAGE  TO  MEXICO  3 

In  one  way  and  another  the  desire  for 
more  life,  the  need  of  expression,  the  craving 
for  things  new,  the  emphasis  of  self,  stirred 
imaginative  men,  driving  some  across  the 
Atlantic,  some  to  the  study  of  human  life, 
others  to  contemplation  of  the  physical  world. 
But  a  greater  passion  than  delight  in  life 
or  joy  in  knowledge  was  at  work.  The  old 
Latin  practices  were  in  grapple  with  new 
Teutonic  ideas,  and  the  attempt  at  religious 
reformation  was  shaking  Europe.  In  Spain 
and  Italy  the  Papacy  and  absolutism  had 
held  their  own  triumphantly,  in  England 
Protestantism  and  personal  liberty  had  won, 
and  the  main  battle  was  raging  midway  be- 
tween, in  the  pleasant  land  of  France.  In 
most  Frenchmen  of  serious '  disposition  the 
new  birth  from  medieval  times  had  asserted 
itself  in  religious  forms;  but  by  this  time 
massacre  and  outrage  had  made  Christianity 
a  mere  name,  and  consequently  a  certain 
skeptical,  compromising  spirit,  embodied  in 
Montaigne  and  Henry  IV.,  was  abroad.  The 
minds  of  serious  men,  who,  a  generation  ear- 
lier, would  have  been  absorbed  in  religious 


4  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

matters,  had  begun  to  turn  to  things  more 
.  within  the  reach  of  human  senses. 

In  this  noteworthy  time,  1567,  Samuel 
Champlain  was  born  in  the  little  town  of 
Brouage,  province  of  Saintonge,  on  the  Bay 
of  Biscay,  some  twenty  miles  south  of  La 
Rochelle.  Little  is  known  of  his  family  or 
early  life.  His  father,  probably  the  son  of 
a  fisherman,  was  a  captain  in  the  navy,  and 
one  of  his  uncles  followed  the  sea  and  became 
a  distinguished  pilot.  It  is  certain  that 
Champlain  was  familiar  with  boats  from 
boyhood,  and  that  the  sea  laid  strong  hold 
upon  his  boyish  imagination.  In  the  dedica- 
tion of  one  of  his  books  he  says :  "  Among 
the  most  useful  and  excellent  arts  naviga- 
tion has  always  seemed  to  me  to  take  the 
first  place.  In  the  measure  that  it  is  dan- 
gerous and  accompanied  by  wrecks  and  a 
thousand  perils,  by  so  much  is  it  honorable 
and  lifted  above  all  other  arts,  being  in  no 
wise  suitable  for  those  who  lack  courage  and 
confidence.  By  this  art  we  acquire  know- 
ledge of  various  lands,  countries,  and  king- 
doms. By  it  we  bring  home  all  sorts  of 


YOUTH,  AND  VOYAGE  TO  MEXICO  5 

riches,  by  it  the  idolatry  of  Paganism  is 
overthrown  and  Christianity  published  in  all 
parts  of  the  earth.  It  is  this  art  that  from 
my  childhood  has  lured  me  to  love  it,  and 
has  pricked  me  to  expose  myself  almost  all 
my  life  to  the  rude  waves  of  the  ocean." 

In  youth  Champlain  became  an  excellent 
seaman,  but  he  was  unable  to  gratify  his 
master  passion  uninterruptedly.  Civil  and 
religious  wars  were  desolating  France,  and 
Champlain  toward  their  close  enlisted  in  the 
king's  army.  Henry  IV.  had  succeeded  of 
right  to  the  throne  in  1589,  but  the  Catholic 
League  proclaimed  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon 
as  Charles  X.,  and  there  were  "  crowns  to 
be  broke  "  and  masses  to  be  said  before  the 
rightful  title  was  acknowledged. 

Brouage  was  a  military  post  of  importance, 
coveted  by  both  sides.  It  was  captured, 
restored,  recaptured,  and  frequently  attacked 
from  1570  to  1589,  so  that  all  its  inhabit- 
ants  must  have  been  familiar  with  war  and 
trained  to  arms,  more  especially  a  lad  of 
spirit  like  Champlain.  There  were  periods 
of  peace,  however,  and  Champlain  must  have 


6  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

received  some  gentler  schooling,  for  although 
he  was  a  good  soldier,  an  eager  sailor,  and 
a  fanatical  explorer,  he  was  always  just,  toler- 
ant, and  gentle,  especially  with  Indians ;  and 
his  whole  attitude  toward  life  was  so  much 
that  of  a  stoic  and  philosopher  that  we  feel 
that  he  must  have  been  subject  to  those 
intellectual  and  moral  influences  of  which 
Montaigne  is  the  great  exponent.  It  may 
be  that  in  one  of  these  intervals  of  peace, 
at  the  age  of  seventeen  or  eighteen,  he  and 
some  friends,  their  minds  and  mouths  full  of 
America,  sailed  a  pinnace  up  the  Gironde 
and  the  Garonne  as  far  as  Bordeaux,  to 
see  the  city  and  hear  with  impressionable 
memories  its  wise  and  witty  mayor  deliver 
some  characteristic  speech  similar  to  this 
passage  from  his  "  Essay  on  Savages."  "  I 
once  saw  among  us  some  men  fetched  over- 
sea from  far-off  lands.  Because  we  could 
not  understand  their  language,  and  because 
their  manners  and  their  clothes  were  so  dif- 
ferent from  ours,  did  we  not  deem  them 
savages  and  brutes?  Who  did  not  judge 
them  stupid  and  brainless  when  we  per- 


YOUTH,  AND  VOYAGE  TO  MEXICO  7 

ceived  them  dumb,  ignorant  of  the  French 
language,  ignorant  of  our  hand  kissings,  of 
our  sinuous  obeisances,  of  our  deportment 
and  carriage,  —  after  which,  methinks,  Na- 
ture should  take  pattern?" 

Although  Champlain  had  fought  in  the 
king's  army  against  the  Catholic  League,  and 
though  Brouage,  his  birthplace,  was  a  Hu- 
guenot town  lying  in  Huguenot  country,  nev^ 
ertheless  he  was  a  staunch  Roman  Catholic. 
Like  other  moderate  men,  he  deemed  the 
Leaguers  mere  rebels,  and  believed  that  they 
used  religion  as  a  cloak  to  cover  political 
ambitions.  He  loved  his  religion,  but  he 
loved  his  country  better ;  he  fought  to  save 
her  from  dismemberment  and  from  Spanish 
dominion,  and  no  doubt  his  sympathy  went 
out  to  the  gallant,  dashing  Navarre  strug- 
gling for  his  own  against  many  enemies.  He 
was  indifferent  enough  toward  theology  to 
be  able  to  agree  with  what  Montaigne  says 
of  the  treatment  of  religion  during  the  civil 
wars  :  "  One  side  pulls  it  to  right,  the  other 
side  pulls  it  to  left,  these  say  it  is  black,  those 
affirm  it  is  white,  nevertheless  both  make  use 


8  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

of  it  for  their  rude  and  ambitious  enterprises 
in  exactly  the  same  way ;  and  in  ill  behavior 
and  injustice  keep  step  so  evenly,  that  they 
make  it  hard  for  us  to  believe  in  that  diver- 
sity of  opinion  which  they  profess."  The 
justice  of  this  skepticism  affected  Champlain 
profoundly.  In  fact,  all  his  life,  at  least  till 
close  to  its  end,  Champlain  seems  not  to  have 
cared  at  all  for  purely  theological  matters. 

History  first  mentions  Champlain  as  quar- 
termaster in  the  royal  army  serving  in  Brit- 
tany. Possibly  he  was  there  when  the  rebels 
with  their  Spanish  allies  captured  the  town 
of  Blavet  (Port  Louis),  and  women  flung 
themselves  into  the  sea  to  escape  the  Spanish 
soldiers ;  but  we  know  nothing  certain  until 
1598,  when  peace  was  made  and  Champlain's 
uncle  went  to  that  port  to  act  as  pilot  of 
the  fleet  which  was  to  carry  the  Spanish  gar- 
rison home.  Champlain  went  with  him  in 
search  of  employment. 

At  Blavet  Champlain's  own  narrative  be- 
gins. At  that  port  he  embarked  with  his 
uncle,  commissioned  as  pilot-general  by  the 
king  of  Spain,  on  board  the  St.  Julien,  a 


YOUTH,  AND  VOYAGE  TO  MEXICO  9 

large  ship  of  five  hundred  tons,  and  sailed 
to  Cadiz,  where  the  Spanish  soldiers  were 
landed.  He  spent  several  months  at  Cadiz, 
San  Lucar  de  Barrameda,  and  Seville,  draw- 
ing rude  pictures  of  cities  and  harbors,  as 
was  his  wont,  and  there  found  the  opportu- 
nity, which  he  had  coveted,  of  going  to  the 
West  Indies. 

Philip  II.,  acting  on  the  economic  princi- 
ples of  the  day,  allowed  no  foreigners  to  trade 
with  his  western  possessions  or  even  to  visit 
them ;  but  every  year  a  Spanish  fleet  sailed 
thither,  and  this  year  the  admiral,  looking 
about  for  ships,  chartered  the  St.  Julien 
for  the  voyage,  and  on  the  pilot-general's 
recommendation  accepted  Champlain  as  her 
captain.  The  voyage  was  uneventful.  At 
Porto  Rico  the  Spaniards  found  a  scene 
of  desolation,  for  the  English  had  surprised 
the  garrison,  and,  having  sacked  and  pil- 
laged, had  set  fire  to  the  town.  At  San 
Domingo  they  captured  two  French  vessels 
surreptitiously  trading,  and  chased  away  a 
dozen  others,  which  they  might  have  captured 
had  Spanish  courage  been  equal  to  "  their 


10  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

rodomontades."  These  islands  Champlain 
-  describes  as  very  pleasant  "  except  for  a 
great  quantify  of  little  flies,  like  midges  or 
gnats,  which  bite  in  such  a  strange  way 
that,  if  one  is  bitten  on  the  face,  red  pimples 
swell  up  round  the  bite,  and  disfigure  the 
whole  countenance." 

The  fleet  cruised  on  past  Cuba  to  the 
mainland  near  Vera  Cruz,  where  Champlain 
received  leave  of  absence,  and  he  at  once  set 
forth  on  horseback  through  the  province  of 
New  Spain  to  the  city  of  Mexico.  His  "  Nar- 
rative" describes  delicious  fruits,  beautiful 
rivers,  birds  of  gay  plumage,  great  prairies 
swarming  with  horses  and  cattle,  splendid 
trees,  —  palms,  cedars,  orange,  ebony,  "  and 
an  infinity  of  other  sorts."  Nevertheless 
"  all  the  contentment  which  I  got  from  the 
sight  of  these  agreeable  things  was  but  little 
compared  with  that  which  I  had  when  I  saw 
the  lovely  city  of  Mexico  ;  I  had  not  believed 
that  it  was  so  proudly  built,  with  temples, 
palaces,  and  beautiful  houses,  nor  its  streets 
so  well  made,  lined  with  beautiful  great  shops, 
filled  with  all  kinds  of  rich  merchandise." 


YOUTH,  AND  VOYAGE  TO  MEXICO    11 

He  paid  close  attention  to  everything  that  he 
saw,  making  careful  notes  and  childish  draw- 
ings, for  he  intended  to  render  a  full  report 
of  these  Spanish  dominions  to  the  king  of 
France.  He  describes  cocoa,  and  the  method 
by  which  it  is  prepared  as  a  beverage,  cochi- 
neal, bananas,  maize,  melons,  cucumbers,  ar- 
tichokes, lettuce,  also  various  animals,  alli- 
gators, lizards,  rattlesnakes,  jaguars,  civets, 
llamas,  wild  boars,  deer,  besides  "  dragons 
of  strange  appearance,  with  head  resembling 
that  of  an  eagle,  wings  like  a  bat,  body  like 
a  lizard,  with  two  legs  and  a  scaly  tail." 

With  visions  of  French  colonies  in  his 
mind,  he  watched  carefully  the  methods  of 
the  Spaniards,  in  particular  their  behavior 
to  the  Indians ;  for  he  understood  that  the 
success  of  a  colony  would  in  great  measure 
depend  on  the  friendly  attitude  of  the  na- 
tives, and  that  the  first  step  towards  friend- 
ship with  them  was  to  understand  their  re- 
ligion. His  report  contains  an  account  of 
Spanish  treatment  of  the  Indians  in  mat- 
ters of  worship,  which  is  interesting  as  a 
contrast  to  the  course  subsequently  followed 


12  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

by  the  French.  The  Mexican  Indians  out- 
'side  Spanish  territory,  "poor  people  devoid 
of  reason,"  were  moon-worshipers.  Within 
Spanish  dominion  nothing  of  the  sort  was 
tolerated.  Immediately  after  the  conquest, 
the  Inquisition  had  been  established,  the 
natives  had  been  treated  as  slaves,  and 
many  of  them  had  been  cruelly  put  to  death. 
The  consequence  was  that  those  natives  who 
could  fled  to  the  woods  and  revenged  them- 
selves on  straggling  Spaniards.  The  con- 
querors were  compelled  to  promise  personal 
liberty,  and  withdraw  the  harsh  laws  of  the 
Inquisition,  substituting  in  their  stead  "a 
gentle  rule  of  life,  .  .  .  for  if  they  had  wished 
to  continue  to  punish  according  to  the  rigor 
of  the  Inquisition,  they  would  have  burned 
all  the  natives."  According  to  this  gentle 
rule  a  priest  lived  in  each  village,  who  on 
Sunday  morning  at  mass  kept  tally  of  all 
the  inhabitants  present.  Those  who  failed 
to  appear  were  ferreted  out,  and  if  their  ex- 
cuses did  not  appear  true  or  reasonable,  they 
were  well  cudgeled  in  sight  of  the  congrega- 
tion. As  this  report  was  to  be  submitted  to 


YOUTH,  AND  VOYAGE  TO  MEXICO  13 

Henry  IV.  and  his  council,  it  is  plain  that 
Champlain  had  complete  confidence  in  find- 
ing among  them  no  sympathy  with  such  pro- 
selyting methods  —  a  confidence  that  was  en- 
tirely justified. 

From  the  city  of  Mexico  Champlain  went 
back  to  Vera  Cruz,  and  thence  to  .Panama, 
where  he  noticed  the  advantages  to  trade 
that  would  result  from  cutting  a  canal  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  thereby  shorten- 
ing the  journey  round  the  Horn  by  fifteen 
hundred  leagues.  On  the  return  voyage  the 
fleet  stopped  at  Havana  for  several  months, 
where  as  usual  Champlain  was  eager  to  sat- 
isfy his  curiosity  about  men  and  merchan- 
dise, plants  and  animals.  He  was  interested 
by  the  Indian  habit  of  "  gathering  tobacco, 
which  is  dried  and  then  twisted  into  little 
rolls ;  sailors,  even  the  English,  and  other 
people  use  them  and  suck  in  smoke  from 
them  in  imitation  of  the  Indians."  From 
Cuba  the  Spaniards  sailed  back  by  way  of 
Bermuda  and  the  Azores  to  Cape  St.  Vin- 
cent, where  they  captured  two  English  mer- 
chantmen, and  then  to  San  Lucar  de  Barra- 


14  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

meda,  which  they  reached  in  March,  1601, 
'after  an  absence  of  two  years  and  two 
months. 

Champlain  remained  in  Spain  for  a  time, 
and  probably  did  not  return  to  France  till 
the  beginning  of  1602.  Then  he  went  to 
Paris  and  made  a  report  of  his  travels  to  the 
/  king ;  in  return  he  was  named  a  royal  geo- 
jgrapher  and  received  a  small  pension.  His 
report,  which  is  entitled  the  "  Brief  narrative 
of  the  most  remarkable  things  which  Samuel 
Champlain  of  Brouage  met  in  the  West  In- 
dies 011  the  voyage  which  he  made  there  in 
the  years  1599  and  1601,"  remained  in  manu- 
script till  1859,  when  an  English  translation 
was  published.  In  1 8  7  0  the  Abbe  Laverdiere 
of  the  Laval  University  in  Quebec  published 
the  original.  The  report  is  a  very  simple, 
straightforward  story,  and  reveals  much  of 
Champlain's  character.  Here  is  a  man  of 
thirty  three  or  four,  confident  in  himself,  but 
with  no  touch  of  self-conceit,  eager  to  serve 
his  king  and  his  country,  bearing  himself  so 
wisely  and  modestly  that  Spanish  jealousy 
and  suspicion  are  not  aroused,  taking  the 


YOUTH,  AND  VOYAGE  TO  MEXICO    15 

dangers  of  the  sea  carelessly,  a  sturdy  mari- 
ner, curious  for  knowledge  ;  and  yet  the  nar- 
rative reveals  but  a  small  part  of  the  man ; 
we  have  still  to  discover  his  steadfast  cour- 
age, his  patience,  his  resourcefulness,  and 
his  kind  heart.  Champlain,  too,  had  a  love 
of  romance  that  carried  him  into  many 
dangers,  but  never  overcame  his  prudence, 
and  a  religion  that  kept  him  unavaricious 
among  greedy  traders,  forgiving  to  those  who 
wronged  him,  chaste  even  among  Indian 
women,  —  a  religion  free  from  bigotry,  that 
made  him  always  desire  that  the  people  of 
the  new  world  should  be  discreetly  persuaded 
to  Christianity  but  never  forced  into  it.  He 
is  particularly  interesting  to  Americans  be- 
cause he  is  a  Frenchman  with  those  qualities 
which  a  wayward  English  tradition  denies  to  / 
the  French,  —  patience,  sobriety,  calm  self-  f 
control,  and  a  complete  absence  of  vanity.  \ 
His  was  the  very  character  for  the  founder 
of  a  colony. 


II 

FIRST   VOYAGE   TO   NORTH   AMERICA 

DURING  his  stay  in  Paris  Champlain  heard 
talk  of  a  proposed  French  colony  to  be  settled 
in  that  part  of  North  America  known  as  New 
France,  but  very  little  known  except  by  name. 
The  plan  interested  him  immensely.  It  was 
the  very  affair  for  him.  Here  was  an  oppor- 
tunity to  put  his  knowledge  and  capacities 
to  use  in  the  service  of  his  country,  of  the 
Christian  religion,  and  in  the  pursuit  of  ro- 
mantic and  scientific  adventure.  Here  was 
the  chance  to  found  a  colony  which  by  devo- 
tion to  agriculture  and  commerce  should  be 
the  beginning  of  a  dominion  which  in  the 
north  would  rival  the  Spanish  empire  in 
the  south. 

By  the  year  1602  the  motives  for  western 
voyages  had  begun  to  change.  During  the 
previous  century  the  mainspring  of  action 
for  sailing  westward  had  been  the  hope  of 


FIRST  VOYAGE  TO  NORTH  AMERICA   17 

finding  some  western  route  to  the  riches  of 
China,  Japan,  and  India.  European  trade 
with  Asia  in  earlier  times  had  been  prin- 
cipally in  the  hands  of  Venice  and  Genoa, 
whose  sailors  carried  cargoes  to  the  end  of  the 
Mediterranean  and  sent  them  on  by  overland 
route  eastward,  and  returned  with  bales  and 
bundles  brought  by  caravans.  In  the  mid- 
dle of  the  fifteenth  century  the  Turks  swept 
over  Asia  Minor,  conquered  the  remains  of 
the  Roman  Empire  at  Constantinople,  and, 
spreading  to  Egypt,  stopped  all  Christian 
trade.  Europe  was  then  forced  to  find  an- 
other route.  The  Portuguese  discovered  a 
way  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  but  all 
geographers  and  sailors  expected  to  discover 
a  westward  route.  Magellan's  voyage  round 
the  southern  end  of  South  America  in  1520 
took  away  the  hope  of  a  short  southern  route, 
and  thereafter  explorers  directed  their  efforts 
to  the  discovery  of  a  northwest  passage.  As 
knowledge  of  the  American  coast  slowly  in- 
creased, the  limits  within  which  a  possible 
passage  might  exist  decreased,  until  the  St. 
Lawrence  River  and  the  icy  seas  opening 


18  SAMtJEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

from  Baffin's  Bay  remained  the  most  likely 
places.  But  at  the  time  of  Champlain's  first 
expedition  to  North  America,  the  northwest 
search  had  ceased  to  be  the  matter  of  chief 
importance.  The  period  of  vague  explora- 
tion and  chance  discovery  had  ended,  and  the 
international  strife  between  the  maritime  na- 
tions of  western  Europe  for  colonial  empire 
had  begun.  Spain  had  a  long  lead,  in  her 
great  possessions  round  about  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  but  England  and  France  were  de- 
termined to  follow  and  overtake  her  if  pos- 
sible. 

A  full  hundred  years  before,  the  Spaniards 
in  Haiti  had  already  discovered  gold  mines, 
and  from  that  time  on  the  story  of  Spanish 
dominion  in  America  is  the  story  of  searches 
for  gold.  One  expedition  went  to  Cuba,  an- 
other to  Florida.  Cortez  conquered  Mexico ; 
another  adventurer  attempted  to  plant  a  col- 
ony in  Virginia,  but  without  success  ;  a  third 
skirted  the  Atlantic  coast  from  Labrador  to 
Florida.  By  1535  Pizarro  had  conquered 
Peru ;  then  came  inland  expeditions  through 
Florida  and  westward  to  the  Mississippi ;  but 


FIRST  VOYAGE  JTO  NORTH  AMERICA    19 

as  no  gold  was  found,  there  was  no  motive 
for  Spanish  colonization  there.  Thus  by 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  Spanish 
America  was  many  times  as  large  as  Spain. 
Meanwhile  the  Tudors,  from  Henry  VII. 
to  Elizabeth,  had  been  developing  the  naval 
power  of  England,  and  had  been  encouraging 
sailors  and  merchant  adventurers  to  try  their 
fortunes  on  the  seas.  First  the  Cabot s  ex- 
plored their  way  along  the  Atlantic  coast. 
Then  Hawkins  developed  the  slave  trade  be- 
tween Africa  and  America.  Frobisher  and 
Davis  made  exploring  voyages  between  the 
coasts  of  Labrador  and  Greenland  as  far  as 
the  Arctic  Ocean.  Drake  played  the  buc- 
caneer on  the  Spanish  Main.  Raleigh  was 
the  first  to  propose  colonization.  In  1584 
two  ships  fitted  out  by  him  touched  at  Eoa- 
noke  Island,  off  Virginia,  and  the  next  year 
a  little  colony  also  sent  by  him  landed  there, 
but  after  a  few  months  of  hardship  returned 
to  England.  Two  years  later  another  colony 
of  his  made  a  similar  attempt,  but  it  was  de- 
stroyed by  the  Indians.  In  1588,  by  the 
destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  the  lord- 


20  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

ship  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  passed  to  England, 
and  the  way  was  cleared  for  Protestant  colo- 
nists. 

Although  the  Spanish  and  the  English  were 
the  first  of  modern  mariners  to  reach  South 
and  North  America,  French  sailors  and  fish- 
ermen were  close  upon  their  rudders.  There 
are  claims  that  a  ship  from  Dieppe  touched 
at  Brazil  in  1488,  and  it  is  certain  that  in 
the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  Nor- 
man and  Breton  fishing  smacks  were  fishing 
for  cod  off  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland,  as 
they  have  continued  to  do  from  that  time  till 
to-day.  These  fishermen  sailed  due  west ; 
and  familiarity  with  this  route  no  doubt  de- 
termined the  course  of  French  colonists  to 
Canada,  for  Normandy  and  Brittany  are  on 
the  same  parallel  as  Newfoundland  and  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Before  the 
middle  of  the  century  Jacques  Cartier,  a 
Breton  from  St.  Malo,  had  made  several 
voyages  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  had  spent 
two  winters  in  Canada,  one  on  the  site  of 
Quebec.  As  a  consequence  of  his  discov- 
eries, Sieur  de  Roberval,  under  royal  author- 


FIRST  VOYAGE  TO  NORTH  AMERICA  21 

ity  and  with  the  title  of  lieutenant-general 
of  Canada,  attempted  to  establish  a  colony. 
He  took  across  the  ocean  a  motley  com- 
pany of  nobles,  soldiers,  artisans,  laborers, 
and  convicts ;  but  disease,  mutiny,  and  want 
dealt  blow  on  blow,  until  the  survivors  were 
thankful  to  abandon  their  settlement  and  sail 
back  to  France.  With  Eoberval  went  as 
pilot  Jean  Alphonse  of  Saintonge,  an  expe- 
rienced navigator,  who,  in  search  for  the 
Northwest  Passage,  went  as  far  north  as 
Davis  Strait  and  Baffin's  Bay,  and  on  his  re- 
turn published  his  "  Cosmography,"  a  work 
containing  many  marvelous  matters,  which 
his  fellow  Saintongeois,  Champlain,  no  doubt 
diligently  studied. 

In  the  middle  of  the  century  Coligny  at- 
tempted to  found  a  Huguenot  colony  in 
Brazil,  but  the  Portuguese,  deeming  it  a 
trespasser,  destroyed  it.  In  1562-63  Co- 
ligny tried  to  make  another  Huguenot  set- 
tlement in  Florida,  but  the  Spaniards,  in 
time  of  peace  and  by  a  dastardly  ruse,  cap- 
tured the  village  and  massacred  all  the  in- 
habitants. French  traders  also  had  sailed 


22  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

to  New  York  harbor,  following  in  the  wake 
of  Verrazano,  a  Florentine  mariner  in  the 
service  of  Francis  I.,  and  up  the  Hudson  for 
the  purpose  of  trading  with  the  Indians. 
They  built  a  blockhouse  and  some  huts  near 
Albany,  but  no  permanent  settlement  was 
established. 

The  fierce  wars  of  religion  (1562-1598) 
prevented  further  French  exploration,  so  that 
at  the  close  of  the  century,  when  Spain  had  a 
long-established  empire  around  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  and  the  English  had  definite  plans 
for  the  colonization  of  Virginia,  France,  ex- 
cept for  the  regular  voyages  of  the  fishermen 
to  the  Banks  and  the  irregular  ventures  of 
few  traders,  had  little  but  a  claim  to  repre- 
sent her  title  to  the  great  northern  regions 
from  Maine  to  Labrador. 

As  soon,  however,  as  peace  was  reestab- 
lished in  France,  the  curiosity  of  cosmogra- 
phers,  the  spirit  of  adventurers,  and  the  purses 
of  traders  resumed  the  attempts  at  explora- 
tion and  colonization.  The  Marquis  de  la 
Roche  made  an  endeavor  which  ended  in  ac- 
cidents and  misery ;  but  one  failure  could  not 


FIRST  VOYAGE  TO  NORTH  AMERICA  23 

daunt  the  Norman  merchants.  Chauvin,  a  sea 
captain,  and  Pontgrave,  a  merchant  of  Rouen 
(destined  to  become  a  life-long  friend  of 
Champlain),  obtained  from  the  king,  Henry 
IV.,  a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  with  Canada, 
upon  the  condition  that  they  should  found 
a  colony.  Little  success  followed,  but  on 
Chauvin's  death,  Aymar  de  Chastes,  a  dis- 
tinguished and  patriotic  nobleman,  sought 
and  obtained  the  reversion  of  these  privileges 
and  monopolies.  He  had  served  the  royal 
cause  faithfully  and  well  in  Brittany,  and 
there  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  Cham- 
plain,  learning  his  character  and  accomplish- 
ments ;  so  that  when  he  found  the  latter  had 
returned  from  Spain  and  was  in  attendance 
on  the  court,  he  offered  him  an  important 
position  in  the  new  enterprise. 

Champlain,  weary  of  dangling  about  the 
Louvre  and  the  Tuileries,  and  of  sauntering 
through  the  Place  Royale,  hailed  the  offer 
with  delight,  and,  rejoicing  in  the  prospect 
of  serving  his  king  and  his  country  in  the 
manner  which  he  loved  best,  accepted  at  once. 
De  Chastes  was  unable  to  go,  being  kept  by 


24  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

various  duties,  but  Champlain  betook  himself 
at  once  to  Honfleur,  the  seaport  for  Rouen, 
where  he  met  Pontgrave,  and  the  two  em- 
barked in  a  little  ship  to  make  a  reconnoi- 
tring voyage,  and  report  upon  a  site  favorable 
:or  a  settlement. 

They  set  sail  on  March  15,  1603,  and  on 
May  2  reached  the  Banks  ;  on  the  20th  they 
were  passing  Anticosti,  and  on  the  24th,  after 
an  easy  sail  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  they  cast 
anchor  at  Tadousac,  by  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Saguenay.  Here  Champlain  made  his 
first  acquaintance  with  North  American  In- 
dians, excepting  that  he  had  seen  certain 
captives  in  France,  of  whom  two  returned 
on  the  ship  with  him. 

Champlain  relates  that  the  day  after  land- 
ing, Pontgrave  and  he  went  with  the  two  re- 
turning Indians  to  the  wigwam  of  the  great 
sagamore,  Anadabijou,  where  there  was  a 
gathering  of  the  tribe.  One  of  the  two  In- 
dians made  a  speech  to  the  assembled  com- 
pany, in  which  he  told  of  the  hospitality  be- 
stowed upon  him  by  the  French  king,  and 
said  that  his  brethren  might  rest  assured  that 


FIRST  VOYAGE  TO  NORTH  AMERICA   25 

the  king  was  most  kindly  disposed  toward 
them,  and  wished  to  people  their  country, 
and  either  help  them  make  peace  with  the 
Iroquois  or  send  them  soldiers  to  win  victory. 
He  then  described  the  beautiful  palaces  of 
France,  the  people  he  had  seen,  and  French 
manners  and  customs.  All  listened  in  silence. 
Then  Anadabijou  presented  some  tobacco  to 
his  guests,  and  after  smoking  for  a  time  be- 
gan his  harangue,  speaking  with  circumspec- 
tion, and  pausing  at  intervals.  He  said  thalT 
they  should  all  be  very  happy  to  have  his 
Majesty  for  a  good  friend ;  to  this  all  the  In- 
dians assented  with  shouts  of  ho,  ho,  ho.  He 
continued  that  they  were  very  glad  to  have 
his  Majesty  people  their  land  and  make  war 
on  their  enemies,  that  there  was  no  nation 
on  earth  to  whom  they  were  more  kindly  dis- 
posed than  the  French ;  and  ended  by  dilating 
upon  the  advantages  that  they  would  receive 
from  the  king.  After  the  harangue  the  com- 
pany fell  to  the  repast,  which  was  contained 
in  eight  or  ten  great  pots.  One  helped  the 
others,  who  took  their  portions  on  bits  of 
bark  and  ate  very  untidily,  wiping  their 


26  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

greasy  hands  on  their  hair  or  on  the  backs 
of  their  dogs.  Then,  the  feasting  done,  while 
one  chanted,  the  others  danced,  brandishing 
scalps  and  tomahawks,  and  shouted  songs  of 
victory. 

Champlain's  narrative  makes  it  plain  that 
the  kindness  which  the  French  showed  to  the 
Canadian  Indians  had  already  developed  into 
a  policy  of  alliance  in  peace  and  war,  and  that 
therefore  he  was  not  personally  responsible 
or  blameworthy  for  subsequently  taking  part 
with  them  in  a  raid  against  the  Iroquois.  On 
the  contrary,  }t  seems  clear  that  in  uniting 
with  the  Algonquins  and  their  allies  against 
the  Five  Nations,  he  acted  in  obedience  to 
instructions  given  by  de  Chastes  or  per- 
haps by  the  royal  council. 

The  alliance  has  been  condemned  because 
the  Iroquois  subsequently  proved  themselves 
fiercer,  stronger,  and  more  capable  than  the 
Canadian  Indians ;  but  at  the  time  it  appeared 
to  be  a  wise  policy,  and  still  seems  so  if  we 
confine  ourselves  to  the  facts  then  known  to 
the  French.  For  the  sake  of  trading,  of  colo- 
nizing, and  of  proselytizing,  the  French  de- 


FIRST  VOYAGE  TO  NORTH  AMERICA    27 

sired  to  win  the  friendship  of  the  Indians. 
The  nearest  way  to  that  end  was  to  prove 
that  they  themselves  were  friendly,  and  by 
far  the  most  cogent  proof  of  friendship  to 
them  was  enmity  to  their  enemies.  A  petty 
number  of  French  soldiers  could  easily  have 
turned  the  scales  of  force  against  the  Iro- 
quois,  and  colonists,  traders,  and  missionaries 
would  then  have  lived  among  friends,  deliv- 
ered from  the  fear  of  arson  and  massacre. 

Although  Champlain  would  have  preferred 
a  treaty  of  peace  between  the  Canadian  In- 
dians and  the  Iroquois,  he  believed  in  this 
policy  of  alliance  offensive  and  defensive, 
and  pursued  it ;  and  had  the  French  govern- 
ment and  the  trading  companies  been  willing 
to  provide  a  couple  of  hundred  soldiers,  such 
policy  might  well  have  been  completely  suc- 
cessful. 

Champlain  found  the  Algonquins  of  a  joy- 
ous disposition,  laughing  often,  though  mel- 
ancholy at  times,  cruel  to  their  enemies  and 
great  liars,  but  reasonable  and  intelligent. 
He  inquired  about  their  religion  of  the  saga- 
more, who  told  him  that  they  believed  in 


28  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

one  God  who  had  created  all  things,  and  lis- 
tened attentively  to  Christian  dogmas  which 
Champlain  expounded,  and  said  he  was  in 
part  ready  to  be  persuaded.  However,  as 
the  early  missionaries  had  great  difficulty  in 
finding  Algonquin  equivalents  for  such  words 
as  trinity,  grace,  redemption,  it  is  doubtful 
how  much  the  sagamore  really  understood 
even  of  simpler  matters.  Nevertheless  he  left 
Champlain  under  the  impression  that  with 
proper  instruction  the  Indians  were  ready  to 
become  Christians. 

From  Tadousac  Champlain  explored  the 
river  Saguenay,  attempting  in  vain  to  fathom 
its  depth.  He  questioned  the  Indians  con- 
cerning its  course  from  the  lake  (St.  John) 
out  of  which  it  flowed,  and  still  more  eagerly 
asked  about  a  mysterious  sea  (Hudson's 
Bay)  far  to  the  north,  reported  to  be  salt. 
On  June  18  the  Frenchmen  sailed  on  up  the 
St.  Lawrence  in  pinnaces,  for  the  channel 
had  not  been  sounded  and  was  so  little  known 
that  no  ships  of  any  size  dared  venture  be- 
yond Tadousac.  They  passed  Hare  Island, 


FIRST  VOYAGE  TO  NORTH  AMERICA  29 

Pointe-a-Pic,  the  Eboulements,  Isle  aux  Cou- 
dres  and  Baie  St.  Paul,  until  on  the  22d 
they  reached  the  Island  of  Orleans,  and  then 
'  the  Falls  of  Montmorency  and  the  cliffs  of 
Quebec.  On  they  went  past  Three  Rivers, 
till  they  came  to»  the  river  of  the  Iroquois 
(Richelieu),  which  they  tried  to  ascend  but 
.could  not,  being  stopped  by  rapids. 

There  Champlain's  curiosity  was  pricked 
by  reports  that  the  Richelieu  flowed  out  of 
a  large  lake  (Champlain),  that  beyond  that 
lake  there  was  another,  near  which  dwelt  the 
Iroquois,  and  then  a  great  river  (Hudson) 
flowing  south,  by  which  a  canoe  might  reach 
the  coast  of  Florida.  Champlain  sailed  on 
up  the  St.  Lawrence  as  far  as  Mont  Royal 
(Montreal),  but  the  city  of  Hochelaga,  which 
had  existed  in  Cartier's  time,  had  disappeared, 
leaving  no  trace  behind.  There  he  heard 
vague  stories  of  great  inland  seas,  following 
one  another  toward  the  west ;  and  conclud- 
ing that  the  last  must  be  the  South  Sea,  he 
resolved  to  explore  this  unknown  region  the 
first  opportunity  he  could  make.  Time  failed 


30  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

him  and  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  Tadou- 
sac  on  July  11. 

After  cruising  about  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  Champlain  set  sail  for  France, 
stopping  near  Gaspe,  where  he  heard  stories 
of  a  horrible  monster  called  the  Gougou,  with 
woman's  shape  most  terrifying,  so  tall  that 
the  mainmast  of  a  ship  would  scarcely  reach 
its  waist,  and  hungry  to  eat  Indians.  Cham- 
plain  was  at  first  inclined  to  think  these 
stories  fables,  but  so  many  Indians  con- 
firmed them  that  he  deemed  the  land  the 
residence  of  some  evil  and  tormenting  spirit. 

The  ship  sailed  from  Gaspe  on  August  24, 
and  with  favoring  winds  arrived  at  Havre- 
de-Grace  on  September  20.  De  Chastes 
had  died  in  their  absence.  Champlain  pre- 
sented himself  at  court  and  showed  the 
king  his  report  of  the  voyage,  and  a  map, 
which  unfortunately  is  now  lost.  He  was 
well  received  and  the  king  promised  to  take 
the  colonization  of  Canada  under  his  protec- 
tion. The  narrative  of  his  voyage,  preceded 
by  a  dignified  dedication  to  the  very  noble, 
high,  and  mighty  Seigneur,  Charles  de  Mont- 


FIRST  VOYAGE  TO  NORTH  AMERICA    31 

morency,  admiral  of  France  and  Brittany, 
was  published  in  Paris  in  the  autumn  by 
Claude  de  Monstr'oeil,  printer  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  whose  shop  was  in  the  court 
of  the  palace. 


Ill 

SECOND  VOYAGE,  WINTER  AT  ISLE  ST.  CROIX 

AT  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century 
the  modern  world  had  begun.  Ships  plied 
between  Spain  and  the  West  Indies,  between 
France  and  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland,  be- 
tween England  and  India.  English  mer- 
chants had  penetrated  Muscovy  and  had 
flown  the  flag  of  St.  George  on  the  Caspian 
Sea,  the  East  India  Company  had  been  char- 
tered, the  Atlantic  ports  had  begun  to  b'estir 
themselves,  the  overland  routes  from  Venice 
to  Frankfort,  from  Frankfort  to  Antwerp, 
were  falling  into  ruin,  the  paths  of  the  sea 
were  the  roads  to  wealth,  and  the  period  of 
commerce  and  colonial  empire  had  begun. 

Henry  IV.  and  his  councilors,  except  Sully 
who  feared  a  waste  of  money,  were  alive  to 
the  new  conditions  and  the  new  needs.  They 
wished  to  plant  French  colonies  in  North 
America,  and  were  wise  enough  to  perceive 


SECOND  VOYAGE,  ISLE  ST.  CROIX    33 

that  the  basis  of  a  colony  must  be  cultiva- 
tion of  the  soil,  and  that  agriculture  is  a 
quicker  road  to  wealth  than  gold  hunting. 
There  was  no  money  in  the  royal  exchequer, 
and  at  that  time  it  was  an  accepted  principle 
that  private  enterprise  was  necessary  to  make 
a  colony  prosper,  and  that  the  one  means 
which  a  government  possessed  to  stimulate 
private  enterprise  was  to  grant  a  monopoly 
in  trading  privileges.  With  this  policy  the 
king  had  granted  a  monopoly  in  the  trade  of 
skins  and  ivory  to  de  Chastes  as  well  as  to 
his  predecessors,  much  to  the  detriment  of 
the  merchants  of  St.  Malo ;  but  he  felt  par- 
ticularly free  to  do  so,  as  that  city  had  been 
disloyal  during  his  struggle  with  the  League. 
On  de  Chastes's  death  the  Sieur  de  Monts  of 
Saihtonge  came  forward  to  take  his  place  and 
asked  the  right  to  colonize  Acadia,  a  very 
ill-defined  region  extending  from  Philadelphia 
to  Cape  Breton.  Permission  was  granted, 
de  Monts  was  made  feudal  lord  over  the  new 
country  with  all  but  regal  powers,  and  with 
a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  extending  far 
enough  north  to  include  Newfoundland  and 


34  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  De  Monts 
agreed  to  establish  settlements,  cultivate  the 
soil,  and  convert  the  natives  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion. 

No  sooner  had  the  monopoly  been  granted 
than  the  merchants  of  Rouen,  Dieppe,  St. 
Malo,  and  La  Rochelle  cried  out  that  they 
would  be  ruined;  the  Parlement  of  Rouen 
presented  a  remonstrance  alleging  that  de 
Monts  was  a  Huguenot,  and  that  the  liber- 
ties of  trade  were  destroyed.  De  Monts, 
however,  for  a  time  triumphed  over  rivalry 
and  envy.  He  hurried  on  his  preparations, 
and  on  April  7, 1604,  sailed  in  a  ship  of  150 
tons  from  Havre-de-Grace  with  Champlain, 
Baron  de  Poutrincourt  (a  new  enthusiast), 
and  a  mixed  company  of  priests,  Huguenot 
ministers,  impressed  rogues,  and  honest  set- 
tlers. Pontgrave  was  to  follow  in  a  smaller 
vessel  with  supplies  for  passing  the  winter. 
De  Monts  had  made  a  voyage  to  Canada 
several  years  before,  and  had  gone  as  far  as 
Tadousac,  but  he  did  not  like  the  country, 
and  determined  to  sail  farther  south,  seeking 
a  milder  climate. 


SECOND  VOYAGE,  ISLE  ST.  CROIX    35 

On  May  1  they  sighted  Sable  Island,  and 
then  ran  along  the  coast  of  Acadia  (Nova 
Scotia),  capturing  a  ship  which  was  trading 
in  furs  contrary  to  the  rights  conferred  by 
the  monopoly,  and  disembarked  at  Port  Mou- 
ton.  There  Champlain  was  sent  southward 
in  a  pinnace  of  eight  tons  with  eleven  men, 
to  explore  the  coast  and  find  good  harbors  for 
the  ships.  He  was  gone  for  about  three  weeks, 
having  sailed  round  Cape  Sable  into  the  Bay 
of  Fundy.  On  his  return  de  Monts  followed 
the  same  course  and  sailed  into  Annapolis 
harbor,  to  the  site  of  Port  Royal  (Annapo- 
lis). There,  as  lord  suzerain,  he  granted  a 
fief  to  Poutrincourt,  who  was  so  charmed 
with  the  spot  that  he  proposed  to  live  there. 
Thence  they  went  on  looking  for  copper 
mines,  while  Champlain  busied  himself  tak- 
ing soundings  and  making  maps  of  every 
harbor  at  which  they  stopped. 

They  passed  the  mouth  of  St.  John  River 
and  came  to  the  St.  Croix  River,  which  is 
now  the  boundary  between  Maine  and  New 
Brunswick,  and  near  its  mouth  discovered  ' 
the  Island  of  St.  Croix,  which  they  named. 


36  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

This  island,  only  eight  or  nine  hundred  paces 
in  circumference  and  rocky  all  about  except 
for  one  spit  of  sand  enriched  with  clay,  yet 
full  of  oak,  pine,  and  birch,  seemed  to  de 
Monts  a  good  place  for  a  settlement.  Here 
they  disembarked  and  set  to  work,  erecting 
fortifications,  planting  cannon,  constructing 
houses,  much  annoyed  by  mosquitoes,  which 
stung  some  of  the  men  so  that  they  could 
hardly  see.  All  worked  so  well  that  before 
long  they  had  built  a  little  house  for  M.  de 
Monts,  a  cabin  for  rainy  days,  a  storehouse, 
a  forge,  a  hut  for  the  carpenters,  a^  well, 
an  oven  for  baking  bread,  a  kitchen,  one 
house  for  Messieurs  d'Orville,  Champlain, 
and  Champdore,  a  second  for  three  other 
gentlemen,  and  two  more  for  the  artisans,  a 
little  cabin  for  the  cure,  and  lodgings  for 
the  sailors,  besides  making  gardens  and  a 
palisade. 

After  the  winter  quarters  were  erected, 
the  ship  in  which  they  had  come  sailed  back 
to  France,  with  Poutrincourt  on  board  be- 
holding visions  of  a  barony  at  Port  Eoyal, 
i  and  Champlain  was  sent  with  a  dozen  sailors 


SECOND  VOYAGE,  ISLE  ST.  CROIX    37 

and  two  Indians  to  explore  the  coast  to  the  ( 
southwest.  He  skirted  the  Maine  shore,  and 
passed  an  island  that  looked  like  seven  or 
eight  mountains  huddled  together,  bare  on 
top  and  girded  with  trees  of  little  growth. 
This  he  named  Monts  Deserts.  Thence  he 
sailed  on  past  Penobscot  Bay,  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Kennebec  Eiver,  where  he  had  a  very 
friendly  interview  with  some  Indians,  to 
whom  he  gave  presents  of  hatchets,  beads, 
knives,  and  trinkets.  He  left  them  in  good 
humor,  and  returned  to  St.  Croix  at  the 
beginning  of  October. 

In  the  mean  time  Pontgrave  had  sown  more 
seed  of  future  troubles  by  seizing  several 
Basque  trading  vessels,  and  arresting  their 
captains  for  violation  of  the  king's  grant, 
much  to  their  surprise  and  indignation,  for 
they  and  their  fathers  had  been  fishing  and 
trading  off  Acadia  for  near  a  hundred  years, 
and  knew  nothing  of  charters  and  mo- 
nopolies. To  the  long  series  of  complaints 
from  Basque,  Breton,  and  Norman  they, 
added  fresh  charges  of  ill  treatment  which, 
so  they  said,  they  had  received  from  de 


38  SAMUEL  t)E  CHAMPLAIN 

Monts's  officers.  They  cried  aloud  that  if 
the  king  would  not  interfere,  commerce  would 
be  ruined,  customs  would  fall  away,  their 
wives  and  children  would  be  forced  to  beg 
for  food,  and  they  either  starve  or  become 
pirates.  Lawsuits  and  lobbying  began.  But 
news  of  these  evil  days  did  not  reach  Acadia 
till  later,  and  de  Monts  and  his  companions 
peacefully  settled  down  for  a  dreary  winter 
on  the  Isle  St.  Croix. 

Champlain  and  some  others  sowed  grain 
in  their  little  gardens,  but  the  sandy  soil 
choked  the  seed,  except  that  which  de  Monts 
had  planted  in  a  little  patch  of  ground  on  the 
mainland.  An  early  winter  came  upon  them, 
snow  fell  on  October  6,  and  blocks  of  ice 
floated  by  the  island  in  the  beginning  of 
December.  Lack  of  fresh  vegetables  and 
meat  brought  a  loathsome  disease,  the  scurvy. 
Great  swollen  sores  formed  in  the  patient's 
mouth,  he  could  not  eat,  his  teeth  all  but 
dropped  out,  he  was  spotted  as  with  flea- 
bites,  he  coughed,  his  breath  came  short, 
pains  racked  his  limbs,  he  could  not  walk, 
and  most  of  the  time  could  not  stand  up 


SECOND  VOYAGE,  ISLE  ST.  CROIX    39 

alone.  Out  of  seventy-nine  men,  thirty-five 
died,  twenty  were  near  to  death,  and  most 
of  the  others  had  pains  and  short  breath. 
They  could  find  no  remedy,  but  the  spring 
brought  back  health  to  those  who  were  still 
living.  Champlain  himself  escaped  the  dis- 
ease, but  life  was  hard  even  for  the  well. 

There  was*  no  cellar  under  the  storehouse, 
and  everything  froze  except  some  Spanish 
wine.  Cider  was  distributed  by  the  pound. 
There  was  nothing  else  to  drink,  except 
melted  snow,  as  it  was  impossible  to  get  to 
the  mainland  for  fresh  water  and  there  were 
no  springs  on  the  island.  The  mill  was  hard 
to  grind,  because  most  of  the  men  were  weak 
from  sickness  and  cold ;  therefore  bread  was 
scarce,  and  there  was  nothing  to  eat  but  salt 
meat  and  dried  vegetables,  which  always 
threatened  scurvy.  The  discontent  was  great, 
and  de  Monts  was  about  to  make  ready  two 
pinnaces  and  try  to  sail  to  Gaspe,  on  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  in  hope  of  finding  a 
fishing  vessel  that  would  take  them  back 
to  France,  when  in  the  middle  of  June, 
1605,  Pontgrave  arrived  on  a  ship  from  St. 


40  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

Malo  with  provisions  and  various  supplies. 
Another  winter  on  that  island  was  impossi- 
ble, so  de  Monts  decided  to  look  at  once  for  a 
more  pleasant  place  for  a  settlement.  "With 
Champlain  and  a  small  company  he  set  sail 
in  one  of  the  pinnaces  which  had  been  pre- 
pared for  Gaspe,  and  coasted  to  the  south- 
west, past  Grand  Manan,  Mt.  Desert,  and 
the  Kennebec  River,  to  the  islands  near 
Portland.  A  little  farther  on,  by  the  river 
Saco,  they  came  upon  the  Almouchiquois 
(probably  the  Massachusetts  Indians),  who 
cultivated  the  soil. 

The  pinnace  went  on  its  way  southward 
past  Boston  bay  and  the  river  Charles,  past 
Plymouth  Rock,  and  down  Cape  Cod  till, 
on  July  20,  it  made  the  harbor  of  Nauset, 
which  Champlain  calls  Mallebarre.  There 
a  number  of  Indians  came  to  the  beach  in 
friendly  fashion,  offering  hospitality.  Cham- 
plain  and  de  Monts  went  with  them  to  see 
their  huts,  fields,  and  manner  of  life,  and 
everything  went  pleasantly  for  several  days 
till  an  unfortunate  breach  of  the  peace.  Up 
to  this  time  the  French  had  had  most  arnica- 


SECOND  VOYAGE,  ISLE  ST.  CROIX    41 

ble  relations  with  all  the  Indians  they  had 
met,  interchanging  presents  and  vows  of 
amity.  That  day  four  or  five  sailors  had 
gone  ashore  with  large  pails  to  fetch  fresh 
water  from  a  spring  behind  one  of  the  sand 
dunes  a  little  distance  from  the  beach.  One 
of  the  Indians,  becoming  covetous,  watched 
his  chance,  and,  snatching  a  pail  from  the 
hands  of  a  sailor,  darted  off  with  it.  The 
other  sailors  ran  to  the  shore  crying  for  help. 
There  were  at  the  time  some  Indians  aboard 
the  pinnace,  who,  taking  fright  at  the  cries, 
jumped  into  the  water,  —  except  one  who  was 
caught,  —  and  swam  ashore.  When  those  on 
shore  saw  that  their  comrades  on  the  ship 
were  safe,  they  chased  the  sailor  from  whom 
they  had  stolen  the  pail,  shot  him  down  with 
arrows,  and  dispatched  him  with  knives. 
Meanwhile  the  French  pulled  to  the  beach 
in  their  rowboats,  firing  their  muskets. 
Cham  plain's  weapon  exploded  in  his  hands 
and  nearly  killed  him.  But  before  they  could 
land,  the  savages,  far  too  nimble  to  be  over- 
taken, ran  off  into  the  woods,  and  did  not 
show  themselves  for  several  hours,  when  some 


42  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

came  slowly  towards  the  shore  making  signs 
that  not  they  were  the  wrong-doers  but  others, 
who  had  fled  far  away.  The  French,  disap- 
pointed that  their  happy  series  of  friendships 
with  the  indigenes  had  been  broken,  made  no 
attempt  at  revenge,  and  recognizing  that  the 
captured  Indian  was  in  no  way  to  blame, 
loosed  him  and  let  him  go. 

The  expedition  was  prevented  from  going 
farther  stmth  by  lack  of  provisions,  so  they 
turned  back  and  sailed  to  St.  Croix,  which 
they  reached  on  August  2  without  special 
adventures.  There  they  found  a  vessel  from 
St.  Malo  laden  with  supplies  for  the  follow- 
ing winter ;  but  de  Monts,  resolving  not  to 
spend  another  winter  on  that  dreary  little 
island,  loaded  all  their  possessions,  including 
the  woodwork  of  the  houses,  on  the  pinnaces, 
and  sailed  across  the  Bay  of  Fundy  to  the 
j  wooded  shore  of  Port  Royal  (Annapolis),  near 
the  mouth  of  Annapolis  River,  in  that  Acadia 
described  by  Longfellow. 

This  is  the  forest  primeval.     The  murmuring  pines  and 

the  hemlocks, 
Bearded  with  moss,  and  in  garments  green,  indistinct  in 

the  twilight, 


SECOND  VOYAGE,  ISLE    ST.  CROIX    43 

Stand  like  Druids  of  eld,  with  voices  sad  and  prophetic, 

Stand  like  harpers  hoar,  with  beards  that  rest  on  their 
bosoms. 

Loud  from  its  rocky  caverns,  the  deep-voiced  neighbor- 
ing ocean 

Speaks,  and  in  accents  disconsolate  answers  the  wail  of 
the  forest. 

There  they  built  houses,  cabins,  and  forti- 
fications, arid  prepared  a  little  settlement  for 
their  second  winter.  By  this  time,  however, 
the  uproar  arising  from  the  confiscations  and 
seizures  of  Basque  and  Breton  trading  ves- 
sels had  resounded  across  the  Atlantic,  and 
de  Monts  found  it  necessary  to  go  back  to 
France  to  defend  his  cause  before  the  king. 
Pontgrave  stayed,  as  lieutenant  in  charge, 
and  with  him  remained  Champlain,  who  was 
eager  to  continue  his  explorations  along  the 
American  coast  as  far  as  Florida. 

As  soon  as  de  Monts  had  sailed,  the  little 
company  of  forty-five  men  went  to  work  on 
their  gardens.  Champlain,  who  hated  idle- 
ness, took  special  interest  in  his.  He  dug 
all  round  it  a  little  ditch,  which  he  filled  with 
water  from  a  spring,  and  he  stocked  the  ditch 
with  very  good  trout,  and  made  a  little  sluice- 


44  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

way  and  water  gate  to  guard  against  an  over- 
flow. In  the  fields  near  the  settlement  he 
made  an  arbor  under  some  large  trees, 
where  he  went  to  enjoy  the  freshness  of  the 
air ;  and  there  he  dug  a  little  reservoir  in 
which  fish  caught  in  the  sea  were  kept  till 
they  were  needed  for  food.  There,  too,  he 
sowed  grain,  which  grew  well,  and  gave  him 
great  satisfaction ;  but  first  it  was  necessary, 
as  he  says,  to  do  a  great  deal  of  hard  work. 
"  We  used  to  go  there  often,"  he  adds,  "  to 
pass  the  time,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  little 
birds  of  the  neighborhood  were  pleased  there- 
by, for  they  flocked  together  in  great  num- 
bers, and  made  such  flutterings  and  chirp- 
ings that  I  think  I  never  heard  the  like." 

The  winter  was  a  hard  one,  and  scurvy 
broke  out  again.  Twelve  men  died.  In  the 
spring.a  pinnace  of  seventeen  tons  was  made 
ready  for  a  voyage  of  exploration  down  the 
New  England  coast,  but  one  storm  drove 
it  ashore,  and  a  second  destroyed  it  alto- 
gether, arid  the  trip  had  to  be  abandoned. 
Champlain  was  greatly  vexed,  for  there  was 
not  time  to  build  another  pinnace  and  make 


SECOND  VOYAGE,  ISLE  ST.  CROIX    45 

the  proposed  voyage  to  the  Florida  coast  before 
the  arrival  of  the  vessels  from  France  which 
were  to  be  sent  by  de  Monts. 

The  vessels  had  not  arrived  by  the  middle 
of  July,  and  provisions  ran  out ;  so  Pontgrave, 
acting  under  de  Monts'  parting  instructions, 
took  the  settlers  on  board  the  bark,  to  sail 
to  Cape  Breton  or  Gaspe,  in  order  to  find 
some  fishing  or  trading  ship  that  would  carry 
them  back  to  France.  Two  men  volunteered 
to  stay  and  take  care  of  the  settlement  and 
guard  the  wheat,  furniture,  and  odds  and 
ends  which  could  not  be  stowed  on  the  bark  ; 
and  an  old  chief,  Membertou,  a  man  of  great 
reputation  for  sagacity  and  cunning,  pro- 
mised to  be  a  good  friend  to  them.  Pont- 
grave then  set  sail  in  the  bark,  with  Cham- 
plain  and  all  (except  the  brave  two)  aboard, 
and  another  little  boat  of  only  seven  or 
eight  tons  followed  ai ter.  On  the  fourth  day 
a  furious  wind  broke  the  rudder  fastenings 
and  left  the  bark  helpless  to  the  fury  of  the 
sea.  They  did  not  know  what  to  do.  It  was 
impossible  to  land,  although  the  coast  of 
Nova  Scotia  was  just  off  their  port  bow,  for 


46  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

the  surf  was  running  mountain  high  all 
along  the  shore,  and  they  chose  rather  to 
drown  at  sea  than  be  dashed  to  pieces  on 
the  rocks.  Every  man  fell  to  thinking  what 
could  be  done  for  the  general  safety.  One 
sailor  suggested  that  a  quantity  of  rope  tied 
to  the  stern  and  let  drag  in  the  water  would 
help  steer  the  ship.  "  We  saw,"  says  Cham- 
plain,  "  that,  unless  God  helped  us  by  other 
means,  that  device  would  not  guarantee  us 
from  wreck."  Champdore,  the  pilot,  took  a 
cable,  cut  it,  and  adjusted  the  rudder  so 
skillfully  that  it  steered  as  well  as  ever,  and 
the  ship  was  enabled  to  hold  her  course. 


IV 

PORT   ROYAL 

IN  the  mean  time  de  Monts  had  had  trials 
and  sufferings  in  Paris.  The  Basques  and 
Bretons  were  pouring  lamentation  and  com- 
'plaint  into  every  ear  that  would  hearken. 
The  monopolists'  settlement  was  said  to  be 
in  a  desert,  in  a  horrid  climate,  the  losses 
great,  the  profits  small,  and  many  men  dead. 
All  this  was  only  too  true,  but  the  mo^t  dam- 
aging charge  was  behind :  report  said  that 
not  a  single  Indian  had  been  converted  to 
Christianity,  and  no  wonder,  for  de  Monts 
was  a  Protestant.  Basque  and  Breton  fur 
traders  grieved  as  if  they  had  set  their  hearts 
on  the  baptism  of  the  heathen.  De  Monts 
did  what  he  could,  both  to  defend  his  mono- 
poly and  to  fit  out  a  ship  with  supplies  for 
the  colonists ;  and  Poutrincourt,  though  he 
was  in  the  midst  of  a  lawsuit,  was  full  of 
spirit  and  ready  to  return  to  Port  Eoyal, 


48  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

and  a  new  adventurer,  Marc  Lescarbot,  a 
lawyer  of  small  practice  but  great  resource, 
was  ready  to  go  too. 

With  great  prudence  de  Monts  and  Pou- 
trincourt  sought  a  priest,  in  order  to  give  an 
orthodox  color  to  the  new  expedition,  and 
went  about  to  various  churches  in  Paris  ask- 
ing for  one.  They  were  told  that  it  was  holy 
week  and  that  the  priests  could  not  leave  the 
confessionals.  At  La  Eochelle,  whence  the 
expedition  was  to  sail,  Poutrincourt  tried 
again,  for  there  were  said  to  be  many  priests 
there  with  little  to  do ;  but  the  answer  was, 
"  that  for  such  a  voyage  people  needs  must 
be  pushed  on  by  great  zeal  and  piety,  and 
that  therefore  he  would  do  well  to  go  to  the 
Jesuit  Fathers."  Poutrincourt,  however,  not 
relishing  that  advice,  concluded  that  he  had 
no  time  for  further  search.  Preparations 
were  hurried  on  as  fast  as  practicable,  and 
after  various  setbacks,  their  ship,  the  Jonas, 
sailed  on  May  13,  1606,,  leaving  de  Monts 
behind  to  protect  the  interests  of  his  com- 
pany at  court. 

They  had  a  long  voyage,  and  did  not  reach 


PORT  KOYAL  49 

Port  Koyal  till  July  26,  nine  days  after  Font- 
grave  and  Champlain  had  left.  At  the  en- 
trance to  the  harbor  of  Port  Royal  they  saw 
nobody  to  greet  them  and  heard  nothing. 
The  garrison  of  two  were  at  dinner,  but 
Membertou's  watchful  eyes  saw  the  sail,  and 
he  ran  into  the  fort  shouting,  "  What,  you 
amuse  yourselves  with  dinner,  and  don't  see 
the  great  ship  that 's  coming  up,  and  we  can't 
tell  what  kind  of  people  are  on  board."  One 
man  ran  to  the  cannon,  the  other  to  the  shore 
with  his  harquebus ;  Membertou  took  one  of 
his  daughters  —  for  he  was  a  very  old  man  — 
and  paddled  out  in  a  canoe  to  inspect  the 
newcomer.  The  fleur-de-lis  was  flying  at  her 
peak.  The  soldier  in  the  fort  fired  the  can- 
non as  a  salute  of  welcome ;  the  ship  replied ; 
and  the  arrival  was  celebrated  with  jollity, 
especially  when  Pontgrave  and  Champlain, 
who  had  met  the  little  boat  left  by  Poutrin- 
court  near  Cape  Sable  to  watch  for  them, 
also  sailed  up  the  harbor. 

After  a  general  consultation  Poutrincourt, 
who  was  at  the  head  of  the  settlement,  de- 
cided not  to  attempt  a  change  of  winter  quar- 


50  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

ters  until  another  year,  and  immediately 
planted  wheat,  rye,  and  other  grains  about 
a  mile  from  the  water.  Pontgrave  sailed 
back  to  France,  taking  with  him  all  the  men 
who  had  passed  the  winter  at  Port  Koyal 
except  Champlain,  Champdore,  and  one  other. 
There  was  a  report  that  there  were  some 
fur  traders  carrying  on  illegal  trade  off  Cape 
Breton,  so  Pontgrave  hurried  off  in  hope 
to  capture  them. 

A  few  days  after  Pontgrave's  departure 
(^  Poutrincourt  and  Champlain  set  forth  on 
their  expedition  to  reach  the  coast  of  Florida. 
They  sailed  along  the  shores  of  New  Bruns- 
wick and  stopped  at  the  island  of  St.  Croix, 
where  they  found  a  crop  of  excellent  wheat, 
sprung  from  the  sowing  of  two  years  before. 
Then  they  went  on  along  the  coast  of  Maine 
and  Massachusetts,  following  the  course  of 
Champlain' s  former  expedition,  until  they 
came  to  Chatham  harbor,  where  they  stopped 
to  repair  the  bark  and  to  bake  bread. 

It  soon  became  apparent  that  the  Indians 
had  evil  intentions.  Poutrincourt  gave  strict 
orders  to  run  no  risks,  and  bade  every  man 


PORT  ROYAL  51 

return  to  the  ship  that  night.  Everybody 
obeyed  except  the  man  who  was  baking;  he 
stayed  to  finish  the  loaves  that  were  in  the 
oven,  and  two  men  stayed  with  him.  When 
evening  came  Poutrincourt  sent  a  dory  to 
fetch  them  back,  but  the  three  refused  to 
come,  in  spite  of  remonstrance  and  entreaty, 
and  two  sailors  from  the  dory  joined  them, 
in  order  to  eat  some  cake  that  had  been 
made.  Their  comrades,  returning  to  the 
bark,  said  nothing  to  Poutrincourt  of  the  dis- 
obedience. At  daybreak  the  Indians  crept 
up  in  great  numbers,  surprised  the  sleeping 
Frenchmen,  and  poured  volleys  of  arrows 
upon  them.  One  sailor  fell  dead,  the  others 
stumbled  toward  the  shore,  riddled  with 
arrows,  crying  for  help.  The  man  on  watch 
shouted,  "  To  arms !  "  and  quick  as  possible 
some  fifteen  men  pushed  off  in  the  dory, 
which  stuck  on  a  sand-bar.  The  men  jumped 
into  the  water,  wading  ashore  with  their 
harquebuses  over  their  heads.  The  Indians 
fled,  and  the  French  buried  their  murdered 
comrades,  and  set  up  a  cross  on  the  grave. 
Three  hours  later  the  Indians  came  back, 


52  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

threw  down  the  cross,  and  dug  up  the  bodies. 
The  Frenchmen  landed  again,  but  the  In- 
dians escaped,  and  plans  of  punishment  were 
postponed. 

The  bark  attempted  to  continue  its  voyage, 
and  succeeded  in  getting  to  Martha's  Vine- 
yard, but  contrary  winds  drove  it  back ;  and 
as  the  season  was  growing  late  Poutrincourt 
decided  to  return  to  Port  Royal,  but  before 
going  the  Frenchmen  had  their  revenge : 
they  lured  the  Indians  into  an  ambuscade 
and  killed  several.  The  voyage  back  was 
uneventful. 

They  were  received  with  joy  by  Marc  Les- 
carbot,  who  had  been  preparing  to  welcome 
them  with  honor.  He  had  decorated  the 
fort  by  fastening  over  the  great  gate  the 
royal  arms  of  France,  surrounded  by  laurel 
wreaths,  and  had  put  underneath  the  es- 
cutcheons of  de  Monts  and  of  Poutrincourt, 
also  encircled  with  laurel.  Lescarbot  was  a 
most  delightful  person,  poorly  endowed  with 
physical  strength,  but  of  wonderful  spirit; 
eagerly  interested  in  everything,  —  roaming, 
digging,  building,  planting,  writing  verses, 


PORT  ROYAL  53 

making  jests,  composing  history,  —  he  makes 
us  understand  the  extent  of  the  difference 
between  the  French  colonists  and  the  Eng- 
lishmen of  Plymouth  Rock. 

Lescarbot  did  not  like  Champlain  very 
much,  for  what  reason  is  not  apparent. 
Perhaps  Champlain  was  too  serious  minded, 
and  inclined  to  think  writing  poetry  an  un- 
necessary, even  an  undesirable,  accomplish- 
ment in  a  colonist ;  or  perhaps  Lescarbot 
deemed  the  mere  explorer  and  geographer 
of  necessity  somewhat  thick  witted.  There 
was  no  quarrel  of  any  kind,  but  Champlain 
alludes  to  Lescarbot  casually  as  to  a  frivo- 
lous subject,  and  Lescarbot  once  or  twice 
finds  fault  with  Champlain  for  no  good 
reason.  The  reader  is  sorry  that  the  serious, 
noble-minded  Champlain  was  not  able  to 
derive  more  pleasure  from  his  gay  com- 
patriot, who  flashes  up  so  brilliantly  in  this 
duU  winter  at  Port  Royal,  especially  as 
Champlain  was  by  no  means  a  sour  Puritan, 
but  held  up  his  end  of  jollity  and  good 
fellowship. 

Lescarbot  tells  the  story  of  the  principal 


54  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

amusement  during  the  winter.  "  I  must  tell 
how,  in  order  to  keep  us  jolly  and  well 
served  in  our  victuals,  an  Order  was  estab- 
lished for  the  Sieur  de  Poutrincourt's  table, 
according  to  a  device  of  Champlain.  His 
idea  was  that  those  sitting  at  this  table 
should  play  the  host  each  one  in  turn,  that 
is,  once  every  fifteen  days.  The  host's  duty 
was  to  see  that  we  were  well  and  honorably 
treated.  This  was  so  well  done  that  (though 
gourmands  at  home  tell  us  that  we  did  not 
have  the  Rue  aux  Ours  of  Paris)  we  had 
there  ordinarily  as  good  cheer  as  we  could 
have  had  at  their  Eue  aux  Ours,  and 
cheaper;  because  each  man,  two  days  be- 
fore his  turn  came,  was  careful  to  go  hunt- 
ing or  fishing,  and  brought  back  something 
dainty  in  addition  to  our  ordinary  fare,  so 
that  at  breakfast  and  dinner  we  were  never 
without  some  good  dish  of  meat  or  fish,  and 
at  supper  had  still  more ;  for  then  was  the 
great  feast,  to  which  the  host,  as  lord  pur- 
veyor, having  got  everything  ready  in  the 
kitchen,  marched,  napkin  on  shoulder,  the 
collar  of  the  Order  round  his  neck,  and  all 


PORT  ROYAL  55 

the  members  of  the  Order  after  him,  each 
man  carrying  his  dish.  The  same  happened 
at  dessert,  though  not  always  with  so  much 
ceremony.  And  in  the  evening  before  say- 
ing grace,  the  purveyor  surrendered  the  col- 
lar of  the  Order  to  his  successor  in  the 
charge,  and  each  drank  a  glass  of  wine  to 
the  other."  'After  the  feast,  stories  were 
told,  songs  sung  by  both  Frenchmen  and 
Indians,  and  Lescarbot  recited  his  own 
verses. 

Lescarbot  by  no  means  confined  himself  to 
amusement.  During  Poutrincourf  s  voyage 
down  the  New  England  coast,  he  had  been 
put  in  charge  of  the  colony,  and  took  his  ap- 
pointment seriously.  He  planted  rye  and 
barley,  he  hoed  in  the  garden,  thinking  the 
while  of  "  our  old  father  Noah,  great  King, 
great  Priest,  great  Prophet,  whose  occupation 
was  to  be  husbandman  ;  "  he  cut  paths  in 
the  woods,  and  digged  a  ditch  round  the  fort. 
After  working  outdoors  all  day,  in  the  even- 
ing, when  every  one  was  indoors,  he  shut  him- 
self in  his  room  to  read  or  to  write.  "  I  am 
not  even  ashamed  to  say,  that,  having  been 


56  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

urged  by  the  Sieur  de  Poutrincourt,  our 
chief,  to  give  a  few  hours  of  my  time  to  teach 
our  little  settlement  in  the  ways  of  Chris- 
tianity, so  as  not  to  live  like  the  beasts,  and 
also  to  show  a  good  example  of  our  way  of 
living  to  the  Indians,  I  did  so  in  the  exi- 
gency and  because  I  was  asked,  every  Sun- 
day and  sometimes  on  special  occasions,  al- 
most all  the  time  that  we  were  there  alone. 
It  stood  me  in  good  stead  that  I  had  brought 
my  Bible  and  some  books  without  any  special 
reason,  for  otherwise  such  a  duty  would  have 
been  too  hard  for  me  and  I  should  have  been 
obliged  to  refuse.  My  doings  were  not  with- 
out fruit,  for  many  came  and  told  me  that 
they  had  never  heard  God  preached  so  well, 
and  that  before  that  they  knew  nothing  of 
the  principles  of  Christian  doctrine,  and  that 
is  the  condition  in  which  the  greater  part  of 
Christendom  lives.  But  if  on  one  side  there 
was  edification,  on  the  other  there  was  some 
adverse  speech,  because  I  always  tried  to 
speak  the  truth  with  proper  French  free- 
dom." 

The  winter  was  mild  and  was  pleasantly 


PORT  ROYAL  57 

passed,  except  for  the  scurvy  which  attacked 
the  colony  late  in  the  season.  It  was  not  so 
severe  as  in  the  two  preceding  years.  Only 
seven  died.  The  eight  or  ten  others  who 
had  the  disease  recovered  when,  to  use  Les- 
carbot's  phrase,  "  the  sun  once  more  began 
to  warm  the  earth  and  to  cast  amorous  looks 
at  its  mistress,"  and  all  were  able  to  set  to 
work  on  their  gardens.  But  disappointment 
was  in  store  for  them. 

On  the  24th  of  May,  after  morning  pray- 
ers, when  breakfast  had  been  distributed,  the 
Sagamore  Membertou,  in  spite  of  his  hun- 
dred years,  was  the  first  to  spy  a  French 
ship  coming  up  the  harbor.  Bad  news  was 
brought ;  in  the  first  place  the  Dutch,  led  by 
a  traitor  Frenchman,  had  sailed  up  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  had  carried  off  all  the  skins 
brought  by  the  Indians,  thereby  inflicting 
a  great  blow  upon  the  company.  But  worse 
tidings  were  to  follow.  De  Monts'  privi- 
leges and  monopolies  had  been  revoked  by 
the  royal  council.  Eumor  said  that  certain 
persons  in  high  place  had  promised  the 
complaining  Bretons  and  Normans  to  see  that 


58  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

the  patent  should  be  broken,  provided  a  cer- 
tain sum  of  money  was  forthcoming.  The 
money  was  paid,  unknown  to  the  king,  and 
the  grant  was  rescinded  on  the  ostensible 
grounds  that  the  price  of  beaver-skins  had 
been  raised,  and  that  no  Indians  had  been 
converted.  Lescarbot  says  that  after  the  re- 
vocation of  the  monopoly,  the  price  of  skins 
doubled,  and  that  he  deemed  the '  Christian 
character  too  noble  to  be  given  on  a  sudden 
to  savages  who  had  no  sentiment  of  religion. 
Chagrined  as  they  were,  none  of  the  colonists 
imputed  any  wrong  to  the  king,  and  they 
celebrated  the  news  of  the  birth  of  his  second 
son  by  burning  bonfires  and  singing  the  Te 
Deum. 

There  was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  aban- 
don the  colony,  for  it  could  not  support  it- 
self, and  de  Monts  could  not  provide  funds 
except  from  a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade. 
They  sorrowfully  made  ready  to  leave.  Les- 
carbot went  direct  to  Canso,  where  the  Jonas 
was  laying  in  cod  previous  to  taking  the 
colonists  home ;  but  Poutrincourt  wanted 
to  reap  what  he  had  sowed  and  take  home 


PORT  ROYAL  59 

specimens  of  Acadian  grain  to  the  king,  and 
Champlain  wished  to  map  out  the  coast  of 
New  Brunswick,  so  they  tarried,  and  did  not 
reach  Canso  till  the  end  of  August.  They 
sailed  on  September  3,  and  arrived  at  St. 
Malo  on  September  30, 1607. 

Champlain  had  been  away  from  France  i 
for  three  years  and  a  half,  on  an  unsuccess-  / 
f  ul  enterprise,  yet,  indignant  as  he  was  against 
the  lobbyists  and  their  bribery,  all  he  said 
of  them  was,  "  God  pardon  those  whom  He 
has  taken,   and  mend   those  who  are   still 
living." 

The  year  1607  was  memorable  for  the 
foundation  of  an  English  colony  at  James- 
town. From  that  beginning  the  power  of 
England  gradually  increased  on  American 
soil  till  it  possessed  all  the  land  from  the 
Spanish  domain  in  Florida  on  the  south  to 
the  French  colonies  in  Acadia  on  the  north. 
Fear  of  English  raids,  such  as  that  of  Ar- 
gall,  who  in  1613  destroyed  the  little  Jesuit 
settlement  near  Mt.  Desert  and  Poutrin- 
court's  colony  at  Port  Royal,  undoubtedly 
affected  the  course  of  French  settlers.  From 


60  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

this  time  on  the  main  current  of  French 
enterprise  was  directed  to  Canada  instead 
of  to  Acadia.  The  French  left  the  English 
south  of  the  river  St.  John  in  undisputed 
possession. 


FIRST  YEAR   AT   QUEBEC,    1608-1609 

ON  his  arrival  in  France  Chainplain  went 
to  see  the  Sieur  de  Monts,  showed  him  his 
maps  and  charts,  and  gave  him  an  account 
of  all  that  had  happened  at  Port  Royal  while 
he  was  away.  The  two  talked  over  plans, 
and  de  Monts  resolved,  in  spite  of  his  mis- 
fortunes, to  persevere  and  make  another  at- 
tempt to  plant  a  colony.  Following  Cham- 
plain's  advice,  he  chose  Canada  as  the  place, 
and  obtained  from  Henry  IV.  a  commission, 
bearing  date  January  7, 1608,  which  granted 
him  a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  with  Can- 
ada for  one  year.  Two  ships  were  fitted  out 
at  Honfleur.  Pontgrave,  who  was  appointed 
deputy  for  trading  with  the  Indians,  sailed 
in  one  in  the  beginning  of  April,  and  Cham- 
plain,  de  Monts'  lieutenant  for  all  matters 
except  trading,  left  a  few  days  later,  receiv- 
ing a  friendly  good-by  from  Lescarbot  in  the 
form  of  a  sonnet. 


62  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

On  May  15  Champlain  was  off  the  Banks, 
and  on  June  3  anchored  at  Tadousac,  where 
he  found  troubles  in  plenty.  Poiitgrave  had 
attempted  to  enforce  the  king's  commission 
against  some  Basque  fur  traders ;  the  latter 
had  resisted.  They  had  wounded  Pontgrave 
and  two  of  his  men,  killed  a  third,  boarded 
the  ship,  and  had  taken  possession  of  all  the 
arms  and  ammunition.  Champlain  entered 
into  parley  with  the  Basques,  and  after  con- 
sultation with  Pontgrave  said  that  they  might 
go  in  peace,  on  condition  that  the  whole  dis- 
pute be  left  to  the  courts  in  France.  The 
Basques  accepted  the  terms  and  departed. 

Pontgrave,  though  suffering  from  his 
wound,  began  to  trade  with  the  Monta- 
gnais  Indians,  who  were  wont  to  paddle 
their  canoes  down  the  rough  waters  of  the 
Saguenay,  and  bring  from  Lake  St.  John  to 
Tadousac  the  skins  collected  by  the  hunters 
in  the  wild  regions  stretching  northward  to 
Hudson's  Bay. 

Champlain,  after  an  interval  of  five  years, 
once  more  sailed  up  the  broad  St.  Lawrence. 
In  four  days  he  passed  the  island  of  Orleans, 


FIRST  YEAR  AT  QUEBEC,  1608-1609    63 

and  after  a  search  found  no  better  place  for 
a  camp  than  the  sloping  ground  covered  with 
nut-trees,  between  the  river  and  the  cliffs, 
where  the  lower  town  of  Quebec  now  stands. 
Here  he  landed  on  July  3,  and  with  his 
usual  energy  laid  the  foundation  of  that  ro- 
mantic city.  One  band  of  workmen  chopped 
down  the  trees,  another  sawed  them  into 
beams  and  planks,  a  third  dug  a  cellar  and 
hollowed  out  a  ditch,  while  the  fourth  hur- 
ried back  to  Tadousac  to  fetch  the  stores  and 
utensils. 

Unexpectedly  quickly  one  pinnace  arrived 
from  Tadousac  in  charge  of  the  pilot  Tetu, 
a  man  of  much  good  sense.  He  unloaded 
his  cargo,  and  was  about  to  sail  back  when 
a  smith,  Natel  by  name,  went  up  to  him  and 
whispered  that  there  was  something  of  which 
he  wished  to  speak.  Thereupon  Natel  re- 
lated how  Duval,  a  locksmith,  had  contrived 
a  plot  to  surprise  Champlain,  unprepared  and 
unarmed,  by  the  ruse  of  a  false  alarm  at  night, 
and  then  having  murdered  him,  to  deliver  the 
place  to  the  Basques  or  the  Spanish.  Duval 
had  suborned  with  lies  and  false  hopes  three 


64  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

of  the  worst  men  in  the  company,  and  then 
the  four  together  had  frightened  or  seduced 
almost  all  the  others  into  consent  or  acqui- 
escence. The  murder  was  to  have  been  com- 
mitted before  the  pinnaces  arrived  from 
Tadousac.  Tetu  said  to  Natel,  "  My  friend, 
you  have  done  well  to  reveal  so  wicked  a 
plot.  You  show  that  you  are  a  good  man,  led 
by  the  Holy  Spirit.  But  the  Sieur  de  Cham- 
plain  must  know  of  this  so  that  he  can  take 
the  proper  measures,  and  you  must  promise 
to  act  so  that  he  will  pardon  you  and  others. 
I  will  tell  him  secretly,  and  no  one  will  sus- 
pect. Go  about  your  business,  learn  what 
you  can,  and  be  sure  that  everything  will  go 
well." 

Tetu  went  at  once  to  Champlain,  who  was 
working  in  his  garden,  took  him  off  into  the 
woods,  and  disclosed  the  plot.  Natel  was 
then  brought  up,  and  repeated  what  he  had 
told.  Champlain  bade  Tetu  bring  his  dory 
to  the  shore ;  he  then  gave  two  bottles  of 
wine  to  a  trusty  man,  and  directed  him  to 
tell  the  four  ringleaders  that  the  wine  was  a 
present  from  some  friends  at  Tadousac,  and 


FIRST  YEAR  AT  QUEBEC,  1608-1609    65 

to  invite  them  to  come  aboard  the  pinnace  for 
supper  and  a  carouse.  The  four  accepted 
the  invitation  and  came ;  Champlain  fol- 
lowed and  arrested  them  promptly.  It  was 
then  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  on 
land  all  had  gone  to  bed.  Each  man  was 
waked,  told  that  the  plot  was  discovered,  and 
that  he  should  be  pardoned  if  he  would  con- 
fess everything.  All  agreed,  and  the  next 
morning  Champlain  took  their  statements 
down  in  writing,  and  was  relieved  to  discover 
that  they  had  all  joined  the  conspiracy  from 
fear  of  the  four  ringleaders.  These  four 
were  handcuffed,  and  promptly  tried  by  a 
court-martial.  The  witnesses  confirmed  their 
depositions.  The  four  were  sentenced  to 
death.  Duval  was  hanged,  and  his  head, 
stuck  on  a  pike,  was  fastened  to  the  highest 
peak  of  the  roof  as  a  warning ;  the  other 
three  were  sent  back  to  France,  where  they 
were  condemned  to  the  galleys.  Perhaps  we 
may  contrast  Champlain' s  leniency  with  Sir 
Thomas  Dale's  severity  in  Virginia,  who,  a 
year  or  two  later,  discovered  a  similar  con- 
spiracy against  him,  and  put  the  five  ring- 


66  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

leaders  to  death  in  a  "  cruel  and  unusual " 
manner. 

Meanwhile  the  buildings  at  Quebec  were 
going  up  as  fast  as  possible.  They  consisted 
of  a  main  structure  and  two  wings,  each  with 
its  chimney.  In  Champlain's  drawing  each 
chimney  puffs  a  wreath  of  curling  smoke  into 
the  air.  Close  to  the  buildings  was  a  small 
court  encompassed  by  a  high  wall;  in  the 
middle  of  the  court  rose  a  tall  dovecote,  and 
on  top  of  the  wall  and  round  the  top  of  the 
first  story  of  the  buildings  ran  a  covered 
gallery,  loopholed  for  muskets.  Outside  was 
a  ditch,  and  three  platforms  on  which  the 
cannon  were  mounted,  and  beyond  was  a 
little  garden  with  beds  and  walks  laid  out 
symmetrically,  and  a  few  yards  farther  down 
was  the  river  bank. 

Here,  while  Pontgrave  was  taking  back 
his  cargo  of  skins  to  France,  Champlain  was 
preparing  for  the  winter.  In  the  first  days 
of  October  he  sowed  wheat,  after  the  15th 
rye,  and  by  the  24th  he  began  planting 
vines,  although  frosts  had  already  come  and 
the  leaves  were  falling  fast;  for  he  under- 


FIKST  YEAR  AT  QUEBEC,  1608-1609    67 

stood  that  a  colony  to  thrive  must  support 
itself,  and  not  depend  on  help  from  over  seas 
for  the  maintenance  of  life.  In  November 
the  snow  began  to  fall  and  the  winter  closed 
in  on  them.  The  Indians  were  very  friendly  ; 
and  after  they  had  finished  catching  eels,  and 
hunting  beaver  and  moose,  they  encamped 
in  their  wigwams  near  the  settlement.  But 
they  needed  more  'help  than  they  gave,  for 
they  were  in  constant  alarm  lest  their  terri- 
ble enemies,  the  Iroquois,  should  attack  them, 
and  a  bad  dream  would  send  them  howling  to 
the  French  for  protection.  Champlain  tried 
to  make  them  keep  a  watch  or  picket  at  night, 
but  they  merely  replied  that  the  French  knew 
better  how  to  take  care  of  them  than  they 
did  themselves. 

The  Canadian  winter  was  harsh,  and  the 
spring  dreary.  The  scurvy  again  broke  out. 
Of  the  little  company  of  twenty-eight,  fifteen 
died  from  it;  five  more  from  dysentery.  In 
June,  1609,  when  news  came  that  Pontgrave 
had  returned  to  Tadousac,  half  of  the  eight 
survivors  were  ill.  Nevertheless  Champlain, 
ever  restless  to  explore,  hastened  away  to 


68  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

confer  with  Pontgrave,  and  the  two  agreed 
that  Pontgrave  should  stay  in  charge  at  Ta- 
dousac  while  Champlain  went  to  explore  the 
St.  Lawrence. 

Champlain  started  on  July  18,  and  had 
not  gone  far  before  he  met  two  or  three 
hundred  Indians,  Hurons,  Montagnais,  and 
Algonquins  in  alliance,  who  had  bivouacked 
by  the  river  and  were  on  their  way  to  Que- 
bec to  take  him  on  a  journey  of  discovery 
into  the  land  of  the  Iroquois.  The  pipe  of 
peace  was  produced  and  a  ceremonious  par- 
ley followed ;  the  savages  wished  to  see  the 
great  buildings  at  Quebec,  so  all  went  back 
there,  to  f eastings  and  celebrations.  A  fresh 
start  was  made  on  the  28th.  Champlain 
had  a  dozen  men  with  him  in  a  shallop,  and 
the  Indians  all  followed  in  their  canoes. 
When  they  came  to  the  mouth  of  the  river 
of  the  Iroquois  (river  Eichelieu)  they  halted 
for  two  days,  hunting  and  fishing.  Then  a 
dispute  arose  among  the  Indians,  and  half 
of  them  went  home  ;  the  other  half  paddled 
up  the  Kichelieu,  and  Champlain  sailed  after 
them  in  his  shallop.  They  passed  a  number 


FIRST  YEAR  AT  QUEBEC,  1608-1609    69 

of  lovely  little  islands,  and  soon  came  to  the 
Chambly  Rapids,  which  neither  shallop  nor 
canoes  could  pass ;  but  the  canoes  were  easily 
carried,  whereas  it  was  impossible  with  so 
few  white  men  to  carry  the  shallop  overland. 
Champlain  was  greatly  vexed  at  the  idea  of 
going  back  without  seeing  "  un  grandicime 
lac  "  filled  with  green  islands  and  surrounded 
by  a  beautiful  country,  so  he  resolved  to  send 
back  the  shallop  and  keep  on  with  two  white 
men  in  a  canoe. 

The  party,  sixty  in  number,  shouldered 
their  canoes,  and  having  gone  beyond  the 
rapids,  embarked  on  the  river  again,  and 
paddled  about  ten  miles  before  they  stopped 
for  the  night.  Then,  as  the  custom  was,  they 
chopped  down  trees  and  built  a  strong  bar- 
ricade around  their  camp,  excepting  on  the 
river  side,  where  the  canoes  were  drawn  up. 

At  each  encampment  the  medicine-man 
erected  a  little  hut  and  covered  it  with  his 
robes  to  hide  the  interior.  Then  going  in- 
side so  that  he  could  not  be  seen,  he  shook 
the  hut  by  pulling  at  the  main  pole,  mum- 
bling the  while  certain  words  in  his  throat 


70  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

which  he  said  summoned  the  devil,  who  ap- 
peared in  the  shape  of  a  stone,  and  delivered 
oracular  answers  to  the  question  whether  the 
allies  should  find  their  enemies  and  kill  many 
of  them.  The  conversation  ended,  the  medi- 
cine-man leaped  to  his  feet,  talking  and  whirl- 
ing about  in  such  a  fashion  that  he  became 
bathed  in  sweat.  Meanwhile  all  the  Indians 
sat  round  about,  telling  Champlain  that  the 
shaking  of  the  hut  was  caused  by  the  devil, 
and  that  he  would  see  fire  issue  from  the 
top  of  the  hut ;  but  he  did  not.  Champlain 
remonstrated  with  them  and  told  them  that 
the  whole  performance  was  nonsense,  and 
that  they  ought  not  to  believe  in  it ;  but  he 
reasoned  in  vain. 

The  next  day  they  paddled  to  the  beginning 
of  the  great  lake  named  in  honor  of  Cham- 
plain,  and  the  day  after  they  continued  down 
it,  and  skirted  the  western  shore,  leaving  the 
Green  Mountains,  still  capped  with  snow,  on 
their  left,  till  they  came  in  sight  of  the  Adi- 
rondacks  to  the  right,  in  which  place  the  In- 
dians expected  to  meet  the  Iroquois.  Then 
it  became  necessary  to  take  precautions ;  they 


FIRST  YEAR  AT  QUEBEC,  1608-1609    71 

lay  close  during  the  day  and  paddled  that 
night,  and  paid  sharp  attention  to  dreams. 
Before  this  the  Indians  had  frequently  asked 
Champlain  if  he  had  not  had  a  dream ;  he 
had  always  answered  no,  but  that  day  he  said 
he  dreamt  that  he  saw  the  Iroquois  drown- 
ing in  a  lake.  This  dream  inspired  the  In- 
dians with  absolute  confidence  in  victory. 

The  next  evening  they  came  upon  some 
Iroquois  canoes.  Each  side  yelled  in  defiance 
and  prepared  for  battle,  but  the  Iroquois  re- 
treated to  land  and  hewed  down  trees  with 
their  stone  hatchets,  and  made  a  barricade. 
The  allies  stayed  in  their  canoes,  and  sent 
an  envoy  to  ask  if  the  Iroquois  wished  to 
fight ;  they  answered  that  they  desired  no- 
thing else,  but  that  it  would  be  better  to 
wait  for  day.  Both  parties  spent  the  night 
dancing,  singing,  and  shouting  insults  and 
opprobrious  epithets  "  as  we  are  wont  to  do 
at  the  siege  of  a  city, "  remarks  Champlain. 

When  morning  dawned,  Champlain  and 
his  two  white  men,  protected  by  helmet, 
breastplate,  and  greaves,  after  the  military 
fashion  of  the  time,  each  with  his  barque- 


72  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

bus,  separated  and  lay  down  in  the  bottom 
of  their  respective  canoes,  so  as  not  to  be 
seen.  Then  the  allies  landed,  and  Cham- 
plain  watched  the  Iroquois  come  forth  from 
their  intrenched  camp,  about  two  hundred, 
vigorous  and  strong.  They  advanced  to 
the  combat  slowly,  with  a  deliberation  and 
gravity  that  gave  him  a  soldier's  content, 
three  chiefs,  decorated  with  flowing  plumes, 
conspicuous  at  their  head.  The  Algonquins 
bade  Champlain  shoot  at  the  chiefs,  and  he 
promised  to  do  his  best.  As  they  drew  near 
the  enemy,  the  allies,  outnumbered  three  to 
one,  called  on  Champlain  and  opened  their 
ranks  to  let  him  pass  and  go  first.  He  ad- 
vanced till  he  was  about  thirty  paces  from 
the  Iroquois,  who,  perceiving  him,  stopped 
in  astonishment,  for  he  was  the  first  white 
man  they  had  ever  seen.  He  saw  them 
bending  their  bows,  so  he  fired  his  har- 
quebus, loaded  with  four  balls.  The  chief 
fell  and  two  warriors  near  him.  The  allies 
raised  a  shout  "to  outroar  thunder,"  and 
arrows  rained  on  each  side  ;  but  the  Iroquois 
were  shaken  by  the  miraculous  destruction 


FIRST  YEAR  AT  QUEBE  C,  1608-1609    73 

of  their  three  warriors,  and  on  the  discharge 
of  another  harquebus  from  another  spot, 
discomfited  they  broke  and  fled,  losing  sev- 
eral dead  and  a  dozen  prisoners,  beside  what 
stores  they  had  in  their  camp,  whereas  the 
allies  sustained  no  injuries  except  a  few  tri- 
fling arrow  wounds.  This  battle  was  fought 
near  TicondSroga. 

After  a  three  hours'  dance  to  celebrate  the 
victory,  the  allies  started  back ;  having  pad- 
dled about  twenty-five  miles,  they  landed  and 
began  to  torture  their  prisoners.  They  took 
one,  harangued  him  on  his  cruelty  toward 
their  people,  bidding  him  make  up  his  mind 
to  receive  the  like  treatment,  and  sing  if  he 
had  enough  courage.  He  did  sing,  but  with 
a  chant  very  sad  to  hear.  Then  the  victors 
lighted  a  fire,  and  each  took  a  burning  brand 
and  burnt  the  wretched  captive  little  by  little ; 
and  in  order  that  he  should  suffer  as  much 
as  possible,  they  stopped  now  and  then  and 
poured  water  over  him.  Then  they  plucked 
out  his  nails  and  burnt  the  tips  of  his  fingers, 
and  next  dropped  boiling  gum  on  his  head. 
After  that  they  hacked  his  arms  and  pulled 


74  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

out  the  nerves,  and  when  they  could  not 
tear  them  out,  cut  them.  The  captive  uttered 
strange  cries,  but  behaved  with  such  forti- 
tude that  at  times  one  might  have  thought 
that  he  felt  nothing.  The  torturers  invited 
Champlain  to  join  them.  He  replied  that 
Frenchmen  never  practiced  such  cruelties, 
and  asked  leave  to  put  a  bullet  through  the 
captive's  head ;  they  refused  and  he  walked 
off  in  anger.  At  this  the  Indians,  not  wish- 
ing to  displease  him,  gave  him  leave  to 
shoot,  and  he  ended  the  ordeal  with  a  shot 
from  his  harquebus.  The  Indians  took  the 
dead  body,  ripped  it  open,  threw  the  bowels 
into  the  lake,  and  cut  off  legs,  arms,  and  head 
after  taking  the  scalp.  They  then  cut  out 
the  heart,  and  chopped  it  in  bits,  which  they 
forced  into  the  mouths  of  the  other  captives, 
who,  however,  instead  of  swallowing,  spat 
them  out.  The  bleeding  bits  were  finally 
thrown  into  the  lake. 

The  next  day  the  victors  continued  their 
homeward  journey.  When  they  came  to  the 
Falls  of  Chambly  on  the  river  Eichelieu, 
the  Hurons  and  Algonquins  went  their  sev- 


FIRST  YEAR  AT  QUEBEC,  1608-1609    75 

eral  ways,  and  Champlain,  promising  to  help 
them  always  like  a  brother,  returned  with 
the  Montagnais,  who  paddled  down  the  St. 
Lawrence  at  the  rate  of  seventy-five  to  ninety 
miles  a  day,  until,  having  barely  stopped  at 
Quebec,  they  came  to  Tadousac,  where  wives 
and  daughters  greeted  them  with  ceremony 
and  great  rejoicing. 

This  raid  was  more  eventful  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  New  World  than  Champlain  was 
aware,  for  the  battle  with  the  Iroquois  made 
them  bitter  enemies  of  the  French.  These 
five  confederated  tribes,  the  Mohawks,  Onei- 
das,  Onondagas,  Senecas,  and  Cayugas,  were 
the  most  powerful  in  North  America,  and 
thereafter  always  allied  themselves  with  the 
enemies  of  France.  They  lived  in  the  cen- 
tral and  western  parts  of  New  York  State, 
and  had  convenient  routes  to  threaten  Can- 
ada, either  by  Lake  Champlain  and  the 
river  Richelieu,  or  by  Lake  Ontario  and  the 
St.  Lawrence.  They  were  fiercer,  braver, 
and  more  capable  in  war  than  any  other  In- 
dians, and  perhaps,  had  the  white  men  not 
come,  would  have  established  their  sway 


76  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

over  a  wide  dominion,  subduing  or  destroy- 
ing all  rivals. 

Toward  the  end  of  August  Pontgrave  and 
Champlain  decided  to  return  to  France ;  they 
established  Pierre  Chauvin  of  Dieppe  at  Que- 
bec with  fifteen  men,  and  on  September  1 
sailed  in  the  shallop  to  Tadousac,  where  the 
large  vessel  had  remained.  Thence  they  set 
sail  on  the  10th,  and  arrived  at  Honfleur  a 
month  later.  Champlain  took  post  at  once 
to  Fontainebleau,  to  report  to  de  Monts,  who 
was  at  court.  He  also  had  an  interview  with 
the  king,  who  was  much  pleased  and  inter- 
ested, and  graciously  accepted  a  belt  of  j)or- 
cupine-skin,  Indian  work  well  wrought,  two 
little  scarlet  birds,  and  the  head  of  a  great 
fish  caught  in  Lake  Champlain. 

De  Monts  went  to  Rouen  to  discuss  mat- 
ters with  some  of  his  associates,  certain  mer- 
chants there,  and  they  decided  to  continue 
the  settlement,  and  to  make  further  explora- 
tions. Then  he  returned  to  Paris  and  tried 
to  obtain  a  further  grant  of  exclusive  privi- 
leges, but  his  enemies  were  too  strong  and 
he  got  nothing.  Nevertheless  he  determined 


FIRST  YEAR  AT  QUEBEC,  1608-1609    77 

to  persevere,  animated  by  a  great  desire  that 
all  things  should  redound  to  the  welfare  and 
the  honor  of  France.  Pontgrave  was  eager 
to  go  back  to  trade  in  furs  and  do  what  else 
he  could  to  defray  expenses,  and  Champlain 
was  ready  to  pass  another  winter  in  Quebec. 
All  three  went  to  work  to  get  together  the 
necessary  stores  and  supplies. 

Energy  was  necessary.  A  new  competitor 
for  the  possession  of  North  America  was  in 
the  field.  In  this  same  year  Henry  Hudson, 
in  the  employ  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Com- 
pany, having  attempted  in  vain  to  find  a 
northeast  passage  to  Cathay,  crossed  the  At- 
lantic, to  look  for  a  western  route,  and,  dis- 
covering a  broad  river  flowing  north,  sailed 
in  his  little  vessel,  the  Half  Moon,  as  far  up 
as  the  Catskills.  His  voyage  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Dutch  settlement  at  New  Am- 
sterdam, on  the  island  of  Manhattan. 


VI 

CANADIAN   AFFAIRS,   1610-1613 

CHAMPLAIN  embarked  again  at  Honfleur 
on  March  7,  1610,  but  fell  so  ill  that  he 
feared  he  should  be  unable  to  make  the  voy- 
age, and  put  back  in  a  small  boat.  He  re- 
covered, and  by  good  luck  the  vessel  he  had 
been  on  was  obliged  to  put  in  for  some  for- 
gotten necessaries ;  so  he  went  aboard  again 
and  sailed  April  8.  He  made  Tadousac  on 
the  26th,  and  there  learned  that  the  little 
colony  at  Quebec  had  had  a  very  good  win- 
ter, little  snow,  and  hardly  any  sickness. 
The  colonists  had  had  plenty  of  fresh  meat, 
and  their  chief  difficulty  had  been  to  amuse 
themselves.  Champlain  pushed  on  and  found 
some  Montagnais  expecting  him  to  go  at 
once  on  the  warpath  with  them.  In  a  few 
days  sixty  more  warriors  came,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  all  should  meet  at  the  Three 
Rivers. 


CANADIAN  AFFAIRS,  1610-1613      79 

Champlain  left  Quebec  on  June  14,  found 
the  Montagnais  at  the  rendezvous,  and  they 
went  on  together  to  an  island  at  the  mouth . 
of  the  river  of  the  Iroquois,  where  they  were 
to  await  the  Algonquins.  As  they  were 
felling  trees  to  barricade  their  camp,  an  Al- 
gonquin paddled  up  furiously  in  his  canoe, 
and  said  that  his  people  had  found  the 
Iroquois,  who  were  strongly  fortified  in  a 
camp  not  far  away.  The  Indians  hurried 
to  shore,  making  less  speed  with  more  haste, 
and  darted  off  through  the  woods,  leaving 
Champlain  and  his  four  comrades  to  wander 
wildly,  for  they  could  not  keep  up  with  their 
fleet-footed  allies,  and  lost  their  way,  floun- 
dering in  bogs  up  to  their  knees.  They 
pushed  on,  encumbered  by  their  armor  and 
harquebuses,  and  bitten  by  mosquitoes,  which 
swarmed  so  thick  that  they  could  scarce  draw 
breath,  when,  beginning  to  despair,  they 
caught  sight  of  two  friendly  braves.  They 
shouted  out  that  the  braves  must  act  as 
guides,  otherwise  they  would  take  no  part 
in  the  battle.  The  Indians  guided  them, 
and  soon  they  met  a  third,  who  reported 


80  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

that  ihe  Algonquins  and  Montagnais  had 
been  repulsed  from  the  Iroquois  fort,  and 
that  the  only  hope  of  victory  lay  in  Cham- 
plain's  arrival.  In  a  short  time  they  could 
hear  shouts  and  battle-cries,  and  when  Cham- 
plain  came  up  the  allies  raised  a  din  "  like 
a  tornado." 

The  Frenchmen  reconnoitred  the  barri- 
cade and  found  it  very  strongly  built,  but 
they  advanced  close  and  began  firing.  The 
Iroquois  at  first  defended  themselves  bravely ; 
one  Frenchman  was  wounded  in  the  arm. 
Champlain,  too,  was  hit  by  an  arrow,  which 
pierced  his  ear  and  buried  itself  in  his  neck ; 
but  he  pulled  it  out,  and  was  able  to  con- 
tinue the  fight.  He  directed  the  savages  to 
approach  the  barricade  under  cover  of  the 
harquebuses  and  tie  ropes  to  its  supports, 
and  wrench  them  out  and  so  make  a  breach 
in  the  wall.  While  the  Indians  were  en- 
gaged in  this  operation,  a  fresh  band  of 
Frenchmen  came  up  and  began  firing  on  the 
fort  from  the  side  opposite  to  Champlain. 
They  had  come  from  a  trading  pinnace  which 
had  followed  Champlain's  shallop,  and  hear- 


CANADIAN  AFFAIRS,  1610-1613      81 

ing  the  musket  fire  had  hurried  to  take  part 
in  the  fight.  Encouraged  by  this  aid  the 
allied  Indians  carried  out  Champlain's  ma- 
noeuvre with  success  ;  the  breach  was  made, 
Frenchmen  and  Indians  rushed  in  together, 
brandishing  swords  and  tomahawks.  The 
Iroquois,  cowed  by  the  firearms,  made  slight 
resistance.  .Some  were  killed  on  the  spot, 
others  ran  and  were  at  once  shot  down, 
others  escaped  as  far  as  the  river  and  were 
drowned,  and  fifteen  were  taken  prisoners; 
not  one  succeeded  in  getting  away. 

The  allies  danced  and  sang,  and  tortured 
their  prisoners,  with  no  thought  of  following 
up  their  victory.  Champlain  had  his  wound 
dressed  by  a  physician  from  Rouen  who  had 
come  with  him,  and  all  stayed  three  days  at 
the  island  of  Saint-Ignace,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Richelieu.  The  Hurons  came  up, 
much  disgusted  to  find  they  had  missed  their 
share  of  combat  and  victory .  French  traders 
also  came,  eager  to  avoid  battle  and  danger, 
yet  prompt  to  buy  furs,  and  finally  Font- 
grave  appeared  with  a  shallop  full  of  mer- 
chandise. After  a  short  delay  all  separated 


82  SAMUEL  DE   CHAMPLAIN 

and  went  their  several  ways.  One  young 
Frenchman,  eager  to  learn  the  Intlian  tongue, 
went  with  the  Algonquins,  and  a  young  In- 
dian in  exchange  stayed  with  Champlain. 
Lescarbot  says  that  he  often  saw  this  young 
Indian  in  Paris,  and  that  he  used  to  mock 
and  jeer  when  he  saw  two  Frenchmen  quar- 
rel without  fighting,  and  call  them  women 
and  cowards. 

Champlain  went  back  to  Quebec,  and  there 
had  consultations  with  Pontgrave  as  to  plans 
for  the  next  winter.  Nothing  had  been  defi- 
nitely decided,  when  vessels  arrived  from 
Brouage  bringing  vague  and  terrible  rumors. 
M.  de  St.  Luc,  reviving  civil  war,  had  gone 
with  soldiers  from  Paris  and  driven  the 
Huguenots  out  of  Brouage;  the  king  had 
been  murdered,  and  also  Sully  and  two  other 
noblemen,  whose  names  were  not  known. 
Champlain  was  greatly  troubled,  and,  though 
he  did  not  believe  that  the  news  could  be 
true,  was  eager  to  go  home.  Pontgrave 
decided  to  go  with  him.  They  left  at  Que- 
bec seventeen  men,  whom  they  enjoined  to 
live  soberly  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  repaired 


CANADIAN  AFFAIRS,  1610-1613      83 

to  Tadousac.  They  sailed  on  August  13, 
and  at  Honfleur  learned  that  the  king  had 
indeed  been  murdered,  but  that  the  other 
rumors  were  false. 

The  death  of  Henry  IV.  was  a  great  blow 
to  Champlain,  for  the  king  not  only  had  been 
his  friend,  but  had  taken  large  views  of  policy, 
and  had  worked  for  the  prosperity  of  France 
with  a  love  even  greater  than  Champlain's* 

With  regard  to  the  schemes  of  de  Monts 
and  Champlain  on  colonization,  the  king  had 
been  placed  in  an  embarrassing  position.  The 
country,  exhausted  by  nearly  forty  years  of 
war,  was  very  poor,  and  though  the  king  ex- 
ercised economy,  he  had  not  been  able  to  pay 
for  a  colonial  settlement  out  of  his  revenues. 
The  only  means  to  raise  funds  was  to  grant 
a  monopoly  of  trade  to  a  company  for  a  pe- 
riod of  years,  in  hope  that  the  colony  would 
thereafter  be  self-supporting.  Such  a  mono- 
poly in  Canada  certainly  did  great  injustice 
to  merchants  and  traders  who  had  been  wont 
to  send  out  vessels  to  Tadousac  ever  since 
Roberval's  time,  and  in  spite  of  Champlain's 
courage  and  enthusiasm  the  first  attempts  at 


84  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

planting  a  colony  had  not  given  cautious  men 
at  home  much  reason  to  expect  success.  Nev- 
ertheless the  king  was  romantic  and  adven- 
turous, and  had  he  lived,  the  prospect  of  the 
colonists  might  have  been  bright ;  but  on  his 
death  his  incompetent  young  son,  Louis  XIII., 
succeeded  to  the  crown,  with  Marie  de  Medici, 
his  mother,  as  regent,  and  the  colonists  were 
left  for  the  time  to  their  own  devices. 

In  this  cheerless  condition  of  affairs  de 
Monts,  Champlain,  and  the  leading  mer- 
chants put  their  heads  together.  De  Monts 
was  governor  of  the  little  town  of  Pont  in 
Saintonge,  not  far  from  La  Rochelle,  and  was 
obliged  to  stay  in  France  ;  and  he  had  no  bet- 
ter plan  to  offer  than  that  Champlain  should 
return  to  Canada  in  the  spring  and  strengthen 
friendly  relations  with  the  Indian  tribes  in 
the  interior,  for  the  purpose  of  retaining 
the  company's  old  trade  with  them,  in  spite 
of  the  broken  monopoly.  Champlain  agreed 
and  made  ready  for  the  expedition. 

Business  often  took  him  to  Rouen,  where 
both  friendly  and  unfriendly  merchants  con- 
gregated. Rouen,  at  the  time  when  Cham- 


CANADIAN  AFFAIRS,   1610-1613     85 

plain  was  there,  cheering  stockholders,  and 
buying  supplies  for  the  colony  at  Quebec, 
was  more  like  what  it  is  to-day  than  any  of 
the  other  French  cities.  There  stood  the 
Cathedral  with  its  towers,  and  its  beautiful 
north  door,  outside  of  which  the  booksellers 
ranged  their  booths,  and  displayed  for  sale 
"  The  Voyage  of  Sieur  de  Champlain  in 
the  year  1603,"  as  well  as  Ronsard,  Mon- 
taigne, and  Rabelais.  There  stood  the  glori- 
ous church  of  St.  Ouen,  where  Champlain 
knelt,  and  felt  his  heart  uplifted  by  its 
winged  vault ;  and  perhaps  like  other  visit- 
ors he  went  to  the  donjon  keep  where  Joan 
of  Arc  had  been  tortured,  and  said  his 
prayers  again.  Many  a  time  he  must  have 
listened  to  the  biggest  bell  in  France  ring 
out  from  the  north  tower  of  the  Cathedral, 
and  have  heard  her  sister  peal  back  her  an- 
swer from  the  belfry  by  the  Great  Clock,  as 
he  rode  through  the  narrow  streets  on  his  way 
to  the  sign  of  "  The  Little  Shoes,"  wonder- 
ing if  in  years  to  come  the  city  of  Quebec 
might  not  look  as  fair.  Many  times  must 
he  have  had  serious  talk  with  long-pursed 


86  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

merchants  in  their  shops  on  the  Rue  aux 
Anglais  and  Eue  aux  Espagnols,  urging 
them  to  share  in  the  great  ventures  which 
were  to  bring  so  much  profit  to  them  and  so 
much  honor  to  France,  and  begging  for  let- 
ters to  their  correspondents  in  Dieppe,  St. 
Malo,  and  La  Rochelle. 

In  the  midst  of  his  absorbing  labors  there 
were  brighter  spots  in  their  season.  He  fell 
in  love.  On  December  27  he  signed  a  con- 
tract of  marriage  with  Mademoiselle  Helene 
Boulle,  daughter  of  Nicolas  Boulle,  secretary 
of  the  king's  chamber.  The  betrothal  took 
place  in  Paris  at  the  church  of  Saint-Ger- 
main 1' Auxerrois,  from  whose  bell  tower  had 
rung  the  signal  for  St.  Bartholomew's  mas- 
sacre, and  the  marriage  was  celebrated  the 
next  day.  The  young  lady  brought  him  a 
dowry  of  forty-five  hundred  francs.  Gossip 
says  that  this  was  the  motive  of  his  mar- 
riage, but  a  hard-working  seafaring  soldier, 
upright,  honest,  chaste,  might  well  captivate 
the  imagination  of  a  child,  and  in  return  lose 
his  heart  to  a  sweet  maid  who  might  have 
been  his  daughter. 


CANADIAN  AFFAIRS,  1610-1613      87 

**  She  loved  him  for  the  dangers  he  had  passed, 
And  he  loved  her  that  she  did  pity  them." 

Her  father  was  a  Huguenot,  and  she  had 
been  brought  up  in  that  faith,  but  Cham- 
plain  would  have  no  such  barrier  between 
them.  So  teaching  her  himself,  he  persuaded 
her  to  take  his  creed,  and  before  he  left  he 
confided  her  to  the  care  of  some  Ursuline 
nuns  to  watch  over  her  in  his  absence. 

His  ship  sailed  from  Honfleur  on  March  1, 
1611,  but  after  eighteen  days  of  good 
weather  met  contrary  winds  and  was  driven 
out  of  her  course.  With  great  difficulty, 
for  she  was  obliged  to  make  frequent  tacks, 
she  came  within  eighty  leagues  of  the  Banks, 
where  she  encountered  series  of  icebergs 
rising  a  hundred  feet  and  more  out  of  the 
water.  The  ship  was  delayed  so  long  that 
she  did  not  cast  anchor  at  Tadousac  till 
May  13,  after  a  voyage  of  two  months  and 
two  weeks.  Pontgrave  stopped  there,  but 
Champlain  kept  on  to  Quebec,  where  his 
shallop,  which  had  been  injured,  was  repaired, 
and  then  up  the  river  to  Mont  Royal  (Mont- 
real) where  he  selected  a  place  for  a  trading 


88  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

post,  and  named  an  island  near  by  Ste.  He- 
lene  in  honor  of  his  wife.  Pontgrave  fol- 
lowed, having  found  the  fur  trade  at  Tadou- 
sac  bad ;  and  many  traders,  in  the  hope  of 
taking  advantage  of  his  friendly  relations 
with  the  Indians,  came  trooping  after  him. 

On  June  13  the  Indians  came,  but  they 
were  suspicious  at  sight  of  the  fleet  of  trad- 
ing pinnaces  and  withdrew;  then  followed 
confabulations,  feasts,  ceremonies,  inter- 
change of  presents,  and  many  talks  on  geog- 
raphy between  Champlain  and  any  Indians 
who  had  either  information  or  guesses  to  im- 
part. Finally  it  was  agreed  that  on  their 
part  the  Indians  should  take  Champlain  on 
a  journey  of  exploration  through  their  coun- 
try, and  that  on  his  part  Champlain  should 
ask  the  king  for  forty  or  fifty  soldiers  to 
help  them  in  their  wars,  that  he  should  fetch 
gifts  for  the  chiefs  through  whose  territories 
they  might  go  ;  and  it  was  further  agreed 
that  if  the  land  explored  seemed  good  and 
fertile  the  French  should  plant  colonies  and 
all  live  there  together  happily  and  in  fear  of 
God. 


CANADIAN  AFFAIRS,  1610-1613      89 

More  ceremonies  followed,  and  the  French- 
man who  had  passed  a  winter  with  the  Hurons 
and  the  Indian  who  had  gone  to  France  with 
Champlain  rejoined  their  respective  compa- 
triots, and  another  young  Frenchman,  named 
Vignau,  who  afterwards  achieved  notoriety, 
remained  with  the  Algonquins. 

Between  the  importunity  of  the  traders 
and  the  procrastination  of  the  Indians  there 
was  neither  profit  nor  exploration  to  be  made 
that  year.  Champlain  returned  to  France, 
convinced  that  to  attain  success  new  methods 
must  be  tried  and  new  help  obtained. 

He  at  once  conferred  with  de  Monts,  who 
put  the  whole  matter  hi  his  hands ;  next  he 
consulted  members  of  the  company,  and 
finding  them  unwilling  to  persevere  without 
the  grant  of  a  monopoly,  went  busily  to  work 
with  new  schemes,  in  spite  of  injuries  received 
from  a  fall  from  his  horse.  His  project  was 
to  secure  the  help  of  some  powerful  noble- 
man, who  should  become  the  protector  of 
the  company,  and  watch  over  its  interests 
at  court.  The  plan  was  approved  by  his 
associates,  and  he  persuaded  the  Count  of 


90  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

Soissons,  "  a  pious  prince,  well  disposed  to 
all  holy  enterprises,"  to  accept  an  appoint- 
ment as  governor  of  New  France,  which  was 
granted  by  the  king,  who  also  bestowed  on 
the  company  exclusive  privileges  of  trade 
in  the  regions  beyond  Quebec.  The  count 
named  Champlain  his  lieutenant,  and  then 
unfortunately  for  the  enterprise  died.  Conde, 
first  prince  of  the  blood,  took  his  place. 

This  business  took  a  year's  time,  and  vexa- 
tions lay  in  wait  for  Champlain  both  abroad 
and  at  home.  In  the  summer  ships  arrived 
from  Canada,  and  reported  that  the  Indian 
braves  had  come  in,  expecting  to  have  him 
join  them  on  the  warpath,  and  had  been 
greatly  disappointed  not  to  find  him.  His 
friends  had  tried  to  pacify  the  Indians,  and 
had  promised  them  that  he  would  come  next 
year ;  but  rival  traders  from  St.  Malo  had 
asserted  that  he  was  dead.  "  See,"  writes 
Champlain,  "  how  envy  of  virtuous  actions 
glides  into  evil  natures;  these  traders  wish 
others  to  run  a  thousand  risks  in  the  dis- 
covery of  strange  lands  and  peoples,  in  order 
that  they  may  have  the  spoil  and  others  the 


CANADIAN  AFFAIRS,  1610-1613      91 

pains.  It  is  not  reasonable  when  one  has 
caught  the  sheep  that  others  should  shear 
it." 

In  France  many  intriguers,  angered  by 
the  new  monopoly,  strove  to  obtain  the  re- 
vocation of  Champlain's  commission,  and 
succeeded  in  giving  Champlain  so  much  to 
do  that  he  was  unable  to  prepare  for  winter- 
ing in  Quebec,  and  was  obliged  to  content 
himself  with  the  plan  of  a  journey  of  ex- 
ploration instead.  In  the  mean  time  he 
prepared  the  narrative  of  his  last  voyages, 
which  he  closed  with  the  words :  "I  trust 
that  God  will  one  day  give  our  king  the 
grace  (for  his  own  greatness  and  for  the 
good  of  his  subjects)  to  bring  many  poor 
Indians  to  the  knowledge  of  our  faith,  so 
that  they  may  one  day  enjoy  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven."  The  book  contained  two  large 
maps  of  New  France  made  by  Champlain, 
and  was  dedicated  both  to  the  king  and  to 
the  queen  regent.  It  was  published  in  Jan- 
uary, 1613.  Champlain  was  at  last  able  to 
leave,  and  reached  Quebec  early  in  May. 


VII 

THE    OTTAWA   RIVER. THE   RECOLLETS.. 

THE   HURONS 

THE  chief  purpose  of  this  voyage  of  Cham- 
plain  was  to  make  further  search  for  a  north- 
west passage.  Exciting  indications  had  been 
furnished  by  the  report  made  to  him  by 
Nicolas  Vignau,  the  young  man  who,  after 
passing  a  winter  with  Tessouat,  a  chief  of 
the  Algonquins,  had  returned  to  France  in 
1612.  He  told  how  he  had  journeyed  up  the 
river  of  the  Algonquin  s  (the  Ottawa)  to  the 
lake  from  which  it  flowed,  and  on  to  the  north, 
a  journey  of  seventeen  days  from  the  rapids 
near  Montreal,  till  he  had  come  to  the  North 
Sea,  where  he  had  seen  the  wreck  of  an 
English  ship  lost  on  the  coast ;  that,  as  he 
heard,  the  English  sailors  had  attempted  to 
rob  the  Indians  there,  and  all  had  been 
killed.  Vignau  swore  to  the  truth  of  his 
story  by  everything  that  he  held  sacred,  and 


THE  OTTAWA  RIVER  93 

showed  Champlain  his  written  narrative, 
which  received  confirmation  from  the  recent 
accounts  of  Henry  Hudson's  voyage  to  the 
North  Sea  in  1610-1611.  Champlain  sub- 
mitted this  report  to  President  Jeannin,  Mar- 
shal de  Brissac,  M.  Nicolas  Brulart  de  Sil- 
lary,  the  chancellor,  and  other  noblemen  of 
the  court,  and  they  bade  Champlain  go  him- 
self and  make  the  same  journey. 

Full  of  expectation,  a  day  or  two  after 
arrival,  Champlain  left  the  island  of  Ste. 
Helene  in  canoes,  with  Vignau,  three  other 
Frenchmen,  and  an  Indian.  At  the  Lachine 
Rapids  they  shouldered  their  canoes  and 
packs,  which  the  Frenchmen  found  uncom- 
fortably heavy,  and  walked  through  the 
woods ;  they  paddled  up  the  lake  of  St.  Louis, 
the  lake  of  the  Two  Mountains,  and  up  the 
Ottawa,  where  they  passed  the  rapids  of 
Carillon  with  much  labor,  walking  along  the 
bank,  and  towing  their  canoes  with  ropes. 
Champlain  met  some  Indians  on  their  way  to 
the  St.  Lawrence,  who  had  heard  that  he  was 
coming  ;  and  after  a  friendly  confabulation, 
they  gave  him  an  Indian  guide,  and  he  sent 


94  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

back  with  them  to  Montreal  the  least  valu- 
able of  his  Frenchmen. 

Champlaiii  made  slow  progress  up  the 
river;  the  current  was  strong,  and  there  were 
many  carries.  At  one  place  the  Indians  un- 
did their  packs,  and  left  everything  but  bare 
necessaries  hidden  in  the  woods,  for  they 
said  there  was  a  very  long  and  difficult  carry 
ahead,  past  certain  rapids.  Vignau,  however, 
asserted  that  there  would  be  no  danger  in 
passing  the  rapids,  and  that  they  should  stay 
in  the  canoes.  The  Indians  replied  that 
Vignau  must  be  tired  of  life,  and  bade 
Champlain  not  to  believe  him,  as  he  spoke 
falsely.  As  Champlain  had  already  noticed 
that  Vignau  showed  no  knowledge  of  their 
route,  he  took  the  Indians'  advice  in  spite  of 
Vignau 's  protestations. 

Weary  with  their  packs,  stung  to  des- 
peration by  mosquitoes,  hungry  and  sore, 
they  arrived  at  last  at  Muskrat  Lake,  where 
there  was  an  Indian  settlement.  These  In- 
dians received  them  very  hospitably,  and  said 
the  Frenchmen  must  have  fallen  from  the 
clouds,  so  difficult  was  the  journey  up  the 


THE  OTTAWA  RIVER  95 

Ottawa.  They  gave  them  food,  showed  them 
their  gardens  planted  with  Indian  corn,  and 
sent  them  on  with  an  escort  to  another  In- 
dian village,  near  the  Lac  des  Allumettes. 

There  Tessouat,  the  chief,  entertained 
them  most  hospitably,  and  made  a  feast  in 
their  honor,  inviting  all  the  countryside. 
Champlain  •  expressed  his  astonishment  that 
they  should  live  so  far  north,  in  a  bleak 
climate  with  poor  soil,  while  fertile  land  and 
sunny  weather  made  the  region  about  Mont 
Royal  so  pleasant.  They  explained  that  they 
lived  where  they  did  to  avoid  danger  from 
the  Iroquois,  but  that  if  the  French  would 
make  a  settlement  near  Mont  Royal  they 
would  gladly  migrate  thither.  Champlain 
replied  he  had  already  chopped  down  trees 
and  hauled  stones  to  lay  the  foundations  of 
a  trading  post  at  Mont  Royal,  and  they  all 
shouted  their  satisfaction.  At  the  feast 
each  man  brought  his  wooden  trencher,  and 
Tessouat  helped  them  from  a  dish  of  boiled 
maize,  enriched  with  fish  and  meat,  and 
cooked  without  salt.  There  were  also  roasted 
meats  and  boiled  fish,  but  as  the  cooking 


96  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

was  very  dirty,  Champlain  asked  for  meat 
and  fish,  which  he  cooked  to  his  own  taste. 
Eating  over,  the  young  braves  withdrew,  and 
the  elders  smoked  in  silence  for  an  hour  and 
a  half. 

Champlain  then  explained  through  his 
interpreter  the  purposes  of  his  visit,  which 
were  to  assure  them  of  his  good-will,  to  assist 
them  in  their  wars,  to  ascertain  the  fertility 
of  the  country,  to  explore  the  forests,  riv- 
ers, and  lakes  ;  but  that  his  immediate  wish 
was  to  go  to  the  country  of  the  Nipissings 
on  his  way  to  the  North  Sea,  and  that  he 
hoped  they  would  furnish  him  with  guides 
and  four  canoes.  The  chiefs  smoked  and 
whispered  to  one  another,  then  Tessouat  gave 
their  answer :  they  had  always  found  Cham- 
plain  more  kindly  disposed  toward  them  than 
any  other  Frenchman  they  had  ever  seen ;  the 
proofs  he  had  given  in  the  past  gave  them 
confidence  of  his  kindness  for  the  future ; 
his  coming  to  see  them,  and  his  readiness 
to  join  them  in  their  wars,  compelled  them 
to  love  him  as  dearly  as  their  own  children ; 
therefore,  they  would  give  the  four  canoes, 


THE  OTTAWA  RIVER  97 

but  much  against  their  will,  on  account  of 
the  perils  which  would  beset  him  on  the  jour- 
ney, for  the  Nipissings  were  sorcerers,  and 
had  killed  many  of  their  people  by  witchcraft 
and  poison  ;  and  that  was  the  reason  that  they 
were  not  friends  with  them. 

Champlain  answered  that  he  was  not  afraid, 
and  that  God  would  protect  him.  They  re- 
peated their  promise  to  give  him  four  canoes, 
and,  well  content,  he  had  gone  off  to  inspect 
the  vegetables  in  their  gardens,  when  the  in- 
terpreter hurriedly  came  to  tell  him  that  the 
Indians  had  concluded  not  to  give  him  either 
canoes  or  escort.  Greatly  vexed,  for  his  only 
route  to  the  North  Sea  was  through  the  coun- 
try of  the  Nipissings,  he  rushed  back,  up- 
braided them,  and  bade  them  at  least  give 
him  two  canoes  and  four  men  for  escort. 
Tessouat  enumerated  again  the  dangers  of 
the  way,  the  number  of  cataracts,  the  wick- 
edness of  the  Nipissings,  and  added  that  the 
real  cause  of  their  refusal  was  their  fear  lest 
he  be  killed. 

To  this  Champlain  replied  that  he  was 
disappointed  to  find  that  they  were  not  his 


98  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

friends,  and  that  there,  pointing  to  Vignau, 
sat  a  young  man  who  had  been  to  the  coun- 
try of  the  Nipissings,  and  had  not  found  the 
way  difficult,  nor  the  people  as  bad  as  they 
said.  At  that  all  the  Indians,  and  especially 
Tessouat,  stared  at  Vignau,  and  Tessouat 
spoke  out  in  his  language :  "Nicolas,  is  it 
true  that  you  said  that  you  have  been  to  the 
Nipissings?"  Vignau  remained  silent  a 
long  time,  and  then  answered  in  their  lan- 
guage: "Yes, I  have  been  there."  All  the 
savages  started  to  their  feet  with  yells  as 
if  they  would  tear  him  to  pieces,  and  Tes- 
souat burst  forth:  "You  are  a  shameless 
liar ;  you  know  very  well  that  you  went  to 
bed  every  night  by  my  side  with  my  chil- 
dren, and  that  every  morning  you  got  up  by 
my  side ;  if  you  have  been  to  those  people 
it  was  when  you  were  asleep ;  how  could  you 
be  so  impudent  as  to  tell  your  chief  lies, 
and  so  wicked  as  to  wish  him  to  hazard  his 
life  among  such  dangers  ?  You  are  damned, 
and  he  ought  to  put  you  to  death,  with 
greater  cruelty  than  we  show  to  our  enemies. 
I  no  longer  wonder  at  his  importunity  to  go 
among  these  people." 


THE  OTTAWA  RIVER  99 

Champlain  immediately  took  Vignau  aside, 
and  conjured  him  to  speak  the  truth,  and  say 
whether  he  had  been  to  the  great  sea.  Vig- 
nau, on  his  oath,  protested  that  he  had  told 
the  truth,  and  that  if  the  Indians  would  lend 
the  canoes  he  would  guide  Champlain  to  the 
sea.  Then  Champlain  went  back,  and  the  In- 
dians crowded  about  him,  saying  they  were 
indignant  that  he  should  trust  a  liar  rather 
than  their  chiefs.  He  repeated  that  Vignau 
had  been  to  the  North  Sea  with  a  cousin  of 
Tessouat,  and  had  seen  the  wreck  of  an  Eng- 
lish ship.  The  Indians  shouted  "  Liar,  liar," 
and  bade  Vignau  describe  the  road.  Cham- 
plain  produced  Vignau's  map,  and  the  sav- 
ages, examining  it,  questioned  Vignau  closely. 
The  latter  made  no  reply,  but  sat  gloomily 
silent.  Champlain  called  him  out  before  the 
other  Frenchmen,  and  said  that  he  must 
know  the  truth,  that  he  was  ready  to  forgive 
the  past,  but  that  if  he  misled  him  further 
he  would  hang  him  without  mercy.  Vig- 
nau fell  on  his  knees,  and  confessed  that 
he  had  invented  the  whole  story.  Hot  with 
anger,  Champlain  bade  the  others  take  the 


100  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

impostor  away,  as  he  could  not  bear  to  see 
him;  and  though  misled  into  hardship  and 
danger,  tricked  in  his  hopes,  made  a  fool  of 
before  the  king  and  council,  a  year  of  his 
life  wasted,  his  reputation  hurt,  his  friends 
weakened,  his  enemies  encouraged,  he  let 
the  cheat  go  unpunished. 

All  hope  of  passage  to  the  North  Sea  gone, 
there  was  nothing  to  do  but  turn  back.  Cham- 
plain  promised  Tessouat  to  come  again  next 
year,  and  took  the  chief's  son  with  him.  Be- 
fore leaving  he  erected  a  great  cross,  deco- 
rated with  the  king's  arms,  on  the  border  of 
the  lake,  and  asked  the  savages  to  preserve  it. 
He  began  his  hard  journey  back  in  the  be- 
gipnihg  of  June.  Going  down  stream  was 
quicker  than  going  up,  and  he  arrived  at 
Moikt  Royal  in  the  middle  of  June.  After 
buying  from  the  Indians  all  their  furs  and 
leaving  two  young  Frenchmen  with  them,  he 
bade  them  good-by,  promising  to  return  the 
following  spring,  and  took  passage  in  a  trad- 
ing vessel  for  St.  Malo. 

There  was  plenty  of  work  for  Champlain 
to  do  in  France.  Conde,  the  governor-gen- 


THE  OTTAWA  RIVER  101 

eral,  had  been  busy  in  raising  rebellions  and 
selling  his  submission,  and  had  done  nothing 
for  Canada  or  the  company,  and  de  Monts 
had  been  so  much  occupied  with  various  mat- 
ters that  he  had  been  unable  to  perfect  the 
new  company,  and  do  the  things  necessary 
to  secure  the  exclusive  privileges  granted  by 
the  charter.  In  consequence  of  this  neglect, 
in  the  summer  (1613),  during  Champlain's 
absence,  special  license  had  been  granted  to 
five  vessels,  three  from  Normandy,  one  from 
La  Rochelle,  and  one  from  St.  Malo,  to  trade 
in  furs  west  of  Quebec,  on  condition  that 
they  should  contribute  towards  the  expense 
of  Champlain's  expedition. 

This  division  of  interests  foreboded  con- 
tention and  failure  for  all.  On  his  return, 
therefore,  Champlain  stopped  at  St.  Malo, 
and  explained  to  the  merchants  there  how 
advantageous  it  would  be  for  those  con- 
cerned to  have  one  well-ordered  company  in 
which  all  interests  should  be  combined  under 
the  authority  of  a  great  prince,  for  they 
could  see  how  trade  had  suffered  in  the  last 
few  years  by  disorderly  competition.  Per- 


102  SAMUEL  DE   CHAMPLAIN 

suaded  by  his  arguments,  they  promised  to 
come  to  court  to  help  form  a  united  com- 
pany, provided  certain  conditions  were 
agreed  to.  Champlain  then  hurried  to  Fon- 
tainebleau,  and  submitted  the  report  of  his 
adventures  and  ill  success  to  the  king  and 
to  Conde. 

In  a  few  days  the  merchants  from  St. 
Malo  and  from  Eouen  arrived,  and  a  kind  of 
stock  company  was  formed  for  the  period  of 
eleven  years.  Champlain,  eager  that  a  united 
France,  Huguenot  as  well  as  Catholic,  should 
support  the  colony,  insisted  that  a  one-third 
interest  should  be  reserved  for  the  merchants 
of  La  Eochelle ;  but  the  latter,  busy  with 
reorganizing  the  Reformed  Church,  with  a 
veiw  to  becoming  a  republic,  dawdled  and  hesi- 
tated till  their  opportunity  was  forfeit,  and 
the  Bretons  and  Normans  divided  between 
them  the  one-third  interest  set  apart  for  La 
Rochelle.  Normandy  took  the  lead  in  the 
enterprise,  vessels  for  Canada  were  fitted 
out  in  her  ports,  and  the  colonists  came 
chiefly  from  Rouen,  Honfleur,  Cherbourg, 
le  Havre,  Dieppe,  and  Caen. 


THE  RECOLLETS  103 

The  failure  of  La  Kochelle  to  join  de- 
prived the  company  of  the  wealth,  intelli- 
gence, and  ability  of  the  rich  Huguenot  mer- 
chants, and  Champlain  felt  the  need  of  filling 
their  place  and  strengthening  the  company 
by  wider  public  sympathy  and  support.  This 
could  be  effected,  he  believed,  by  promoting 
a  purpose,  which  he  had  near  at  heart,  the 
conversion  of  the  Indians  to  Christianity. 
There  was  nothing  of  the  bigot  in  Cham- 
plain  ;  he  was  a  loyal  son  of  the  church,  and 
he  had  no  special  dislike  to  Huguenots,  —  his 
old  chief  de  Monts  was  of  them,  so  was  his 
wife's  father,  so  were  the  merchants  whom 
he  tried  to  bring  into  the  new  company ;  and 
in  his  desire  to  convert  the  heathen,  there 
was  far  less  of  the  zealous  churchman  than 
of  the  large-hearted  man,  who  grieves  to  see 
his  fellow-men  so  like  brutes  in  many  re- 
spects. He  had  attempted  in  vain  to  make 
the  colonies  non-sectarian  in  religious  mat- 
ters ;  the  Huguenots  had  held  off,  so  he  was 
driven  to  the  Catholics. 

He  took  advice  of  a  distinguished  citizen, 
one  of  the  king's  secretaries,  and  comp- 


104  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

troller-general  of  the  salt  works  of  Brouage, 
a  pious  and  good  man,  greatly  interested 
in  the  matter,  who  bade  him  go  to  the 
Recollets,  a  branch  of  the  Franciscan  order. 
Among  the  Recollets  he  found  a  spirit  of 
devotion  and  self-sacrifice  worthy  of  St. 
Francis.  They  were  ready  to  brave  all  dan- 
gers in  the  path  of  duty,  but  there  was 
much  to  be  obtained  in  the  way  of  permis- 
sion ;  father  superior,  provincial,  general, 
governor,  king,  and  Pope  must  sign  warrants 
giving  four  poor  brethren  leave  to  carry  the 
gospel  to  New  France,  and  near  a  year  was 
spent  in  obtaining  sufficient  authority  to 
allow  them  to  embark. 

There  was  need  of  money,  but  Champlain 
laid  his  plans  before  a  noble  company  of 
cardinals  and  bishops,  assembled  as  the 
spiritual  power  of  the  realm  to  take  their 
place  in  the  States-General  then  convening, 
and  begged  so  well  that  he  was  given  fifteen 
hundred  livres.  The  merchants  of  Rouen 
and  St.  Malo  promised  to  contribute,  but 
failed  to  do  so ;  nevertheless,  Champlain  at 
length  prepared  everything,  and  the  four 


THE  RECOLLETS  105 

brethren  repaired  to  Honfleur,  where  the 
Saint-Etienne,  under  command  of  Pontgrave, 
was  ready  to  sail.  Champlain  says,  "  Each 
of  us  examined  his  own  conscience,  and  con- 
fessed and  repented  of  his  sins,  in  order  to 
put  ourselves  in  a  state  of  grace,  so  that 
we  should  be  more  prepared  to  submit  our- 
selves, under  the  protection  of  God,  to  the 
mercy  of  the  waves  and  of  the  great,  perilous 
ocean." 

In  the  beginning  of  June  they  reached 
Quebec ;  and  at  once  a  simple  convent  was 
built  beside  the  little  fort,  a  chapel  was 
begun,  an  altar  raised  and  mass  said  for  the 
first  time  in  New  France.  Missions  were 
divided  among  the  four  brethren,  and  the 
most  zealous,  Father  Joseph  Carillon,  started 
at  once  for  Mont  Royal,  and  picking  up  such 
smattering  of  the  Indian  tongue  as  he  could, 
resolved  to  go  to  the  Hurons  and  pass  the 
winter  with  them. 

Champlain  wished  to  explore,  but  the  In- 
dians reminded  him  of  his  promise  to  take 
part  in  their  campaign  against  the  Iroquois ; 
so  he  acquiesced,  and  returned  from  a  pow- 


106  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

wow  at  Mont  Royal  to  Quebec  to  make 
preparation,  for  he  was  fully  convinced  that 
the  Iroquois  must  be  driven  back  from  the 
shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  otherwise  all 
trade  with  the  Hurons  and  other  Indians 
west  of  the  River  Richelieu,  which  served 
the  Iroquois  for  a  warpath,  would  have  to 
be  abandoned.  Before  he  went  he  endeav- 
ored to  persuade  Father  Joseph  to  forego  his 
plan  of  passing  the  winter  with  the  Hurons  ; 
but  Father  Joseph  replied  that  he  must  go, 
both  to  learn  their  language  and  to  compre- 
hend their  nature ;  and  as  to  dangers  and 
difficulties,  by  God's  grace  he  would  be  able 
to  withstand  and  endure  them;  that  he 
should  adapt  himself  to  their  manner  of  liv- 
ing and  to  other  discomforts  well  and  cheer- 
fully, and  in  temporal  matters  there  was 
need  of  but  little  to  content  a  man  who  had 
taken  the  vow  of  poverty,  and  who  sought 
only  the  kingdom  of  God  for  his  fellows  and 
himself.  Champlain  had  no  further  wish  to 
dissuade  him,  seeing  this  great  content  at  an 
opportunity  to  suffer  for  the  name  and  the 
glory  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 


THE  HURONS  107 

Champlain  delayed  a  few  days  at  Quebec, 
and  when  he  returned  found  that  the  impa- 
tient savages,  thinking  him  killed  or  captured 
by  the  Iroquois,  had  broken  their  camp  and 
returned  home.  With  them  had  gone  Father 
Joseph  and  twelve  Frenchmen.  Champlain, 
with  a  couple  of  white  men  and  some  In- 
dians, immediately  set  out  after  them,  taking 
the  same  route  which  he  had  followed  in 
1613  with  the  impostor  Vignau.  After  hard 
paddling  and  marching  he  reached  the  Lac 
des  Allumettes,  thence  he  continued  up  the 
Ottawa  River,  now  enjoying  a  dear  stretch 
of  river,  now  making  carries  past  rapids,  till 
he  turned  to  the  left  and  ascended  the  river 
Mattawan,  then  quitting  that,  after  a  portage 
past  some  little  lakes,  he  reached  the  lake  of 
the  Nipissings,  and  paddled  along  its  shore 
till  he  reached  their  village.  After  two  days' 
rest,  he  went  westward  down  French  River, 
where  he  saw  a  tribe  of  Indians  with  wonder- 
ful headdress,  and  on  till  he  reached  the 
great  fresh-water  sea,  Lake  Huron,  of  which 
he  had  heard  such  vague  reports.  There  he 
came  upon  the  villages  of  the  Hurons,  well 


108  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

peopled,  in  which  he  was  received  with  great 
cordiality,  especially  by  those  warriors  who 
had  not  waited  for  him,  as  they  had  prom- 
ised, at  the  rendezvous  near  Mont  Royal. 
In  one  of  the  villages  was  Father  Joseph, 
ministering  and  teaching;  he  had  already 
set  up  a  great  wooden  cross,  and  the  In- 
dians were  building  him  a  chapel,  in  which, 
soon  after  Champlain' s  arrival,  he  celebrated 
mass. 

After  a  week  or  two  spent  in  feasts  and 
dances  the  Huron  braves  set  forth  on  the 
warpath.  They  crossed  Lake  Simcoe,  pad- 
dled down  the  river  Trent,  crossed  the  east 
end  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  marched  past  the 
west  shore  of  Lake  Oneida.  In  a  day  or 
two  they  came  upon  an  Iroquois  fort,  which 
they  attacked  with  great  fury  and  the  utmost 
imprudence.  They  were  easily  repulsed. 
Champlain  endeavored  to  direct  their  move- 
ments, but  in  vain.  A  second  attack,  fool- 
ishly attempted,  was  repulsed  with  great  loss. 
The  Hurons  lost  heart,  and  retreated,  carry- 
ing Champlain,  who  was  wounded  in  two 
places.  He  hoped  to  be  able  to  leave  them 


THE  HURONS  109 

on  the  march  home,  and  go  by  water  from 
Lake  Ontario  to  Quebec ;  but  no  Indian 
would  lend  a  canoe  or  act  as  his  guide ;  so 
he  was  obliged  to  go  back,  and  spend  an 
idle  winter  with  them,  to  his  great  chagrin. 
All  chance  of  making  explorations  to  the 
north  was  lost  for  this  year. 

In  September  Champlain  went  back  to 
France,  accompanied  by  Father  Joseph  and 
Father  Denis.  He  says  :  "  On  landing  we 
gave  praise  and  benediction  to  God,  for  His 
great  care  in  preserving  our  lives,  and  for 
plucking  and  snatching  us,  as  it  were,  from 
all  the  dangers  to  which  we  had  been  ex- 
posed, and  for  bringing  us  back  in  health  to 
our  native  land ;  and  we  prayed  Him  to 
move  the  hearts  of  the  king  and  his  council 
to  render  what  help  might  be  needful  to  up- 
lift these  poor  Indians  to  a  knowledge  of 
God,  from  which  act  honor  would  accrue  to 
his  majesty,  greatness  and  increase  to  his 
kingdom,  prosperity  to  his  subjects,  and  the 
glory  of  all  the  labor  and  enterprise  would 
be  to  God,  author  of  all  things  perfect,  to 
whom  be  honor  and  glory,  Amen." 


VIII 

QUEBEC,    1616-1635 

FROM  1616  to  1628  Champlain's  life  was 
one  long  struggle  against  danger,  difficulty, 
and  vexation,  both  in  France  and  in  Canada. 
There  were  always  foes  and  rivals,  and  the 
frail  little  colony  lay  helpless  among  them. 
The  traders  of  La  Eochelle  refused  to  re- 
spect the  grants  made  to  the  company  formed 
by  Rouen  and  St.  Malo ;  Huguenot  irritated 
Catholic,  and  Catholic  badgered  Huguenot ; 
the  reformed  worship  was  prohibited,  and 
the  prohibition  was  ostentatiously  violated ; 
viceroys  succeeded  one  another  with  shifting 
policy,  only  consistent  in  lining  their  own 
purses.  pThe  merchants  neither  wished  to 
establish  TFrench  colonies  nor  to  civilize  the 
Indians,  for  they  feared  lest  agricultural  oc- 
cupations would  hurt  the  fur  trade,  and  all 
plotted  to  harm  one  another. 


QUEBEC,  1616-1635  111 

Sailors  from  La  liochelle  furnished  fire- 
arms to  the  savages,  and  rendered  them 
dangerous ;  and  all  the  traders  treated  the 
Indians  harshly,  and  made  them  unfriendly. 
At  one  time  the  Montagnais  threatened  hos- 
tility from  the  north,  at  another  the  Iroquois 
besieged  Quebec,  and  once  a  Spanish  ship 
sailed  up  -the  St.  Lawrence  to  Tadousac, 
causing  great  alarm.  In  the  midst  of  con- 
fusion Champlain  kept  making  trips  up  and 
down  the  river,  superintending  the  little 
settlements  with  watchful  eye,  and  fulfilling 
the  duties  of  commander  as  best  he  could. 
Every  year  he  sailed  back  to  France,  where 
he  hurried  from  St.  Malo  to  Rouen,  from 
Eouen  to  Paris,  encouraging,  entreating, 
warning,  and  threatening,  in  the  interests  of 
New  France. 

Quebec  was  a  wretched  little  settlement 
of  fifty  or  sixty  traders,  its  buildings  were 
tumbling  down,  its  gardens  few,  its  farms 
consisting  only  of  pigs  and  poultry,  and  its 
inhabitants  rude  and  quarrelsome.  In  1620, 
on  the  verge  of  the  cliff,  not  far  from  where 
his  great  statue  steps  lightly  on  its  pedestal, 


112  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

in  garb  very  unlike  the  rough  clothes  he 
wore  as  commander  of  the  colony,  Cham- 
plain  built  a  new  fort ;  and  down  below, 
near  the  river,  he  repaired  the  habitation 
to  receive  his  wife,  still  a  young  woman  of 
only  twenty-two.  She  was  well  received  by 
the  settlement,  and  having  no  children,  and 
being  very  devout,  devoted  herself,  during  the 
four  years  that  she  stayed,  to  assisting  the 
Eecollet  fathers  in  their  missionary  labors 
among  the  Indian  women  and  children. 
She  and  her  husband  were  always  good 
friends,  but  she  had  not  the  character  and 
force  necessary  to  make  her  a  real  helpmeet. 
The  most  important  event  in  these  trou- 
bled years  was  the  advent  of  the  Jesuits. 
In  spite  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  relations 
between  Catholic  and  Huguenot  were  greatly 
strained,  both  in  the  New  World  and  in  the 
Old.  In  Canada  the  Protestants  set  at 
naught  decrees  of  the, king's  council,  they 
committed  all  sorts  of  illegal  acts,  and  when 
the  injured  traders  went  to  La  Rochelle  for 
justice  the  mayor  said :  "  I  think  I  am  doing 
you  no  little  favor  and  courtesy  in  advising 


QUEBEC,  1616-1635  113 

you  to  keep  quiet  and  go  away  as  quickly 
as  possible  ;  for  if  the  people  know  that  you 
have  come  here  to  execute  the  commands  of 
milords  of  the  council,  you  will  stand  a  good 
chance  of  being  drowned  in  the  harbor,  and 
I  should  be  unable  to  help  you." 

In  France  the  Huguenots  desired  to  set 
up  a  republic,  called  on  England  and  Hol- 
land to  help  them,  and  civil  war  was  renewed. 
Peace  was  patched  up,  but  to  the  patriotic 
citizen,  who  hoped  to  see  the  fair  domains 
of  France  triple  their  size  by  colonies  over 
the  sea,  it  looked  more  clear  than  ever  that 
some  means  must  be  devised  to  give  com- 
plete preponderance  to  the  Catholics  in  those 
colonies. 

The  Recollet  fathers  in  New  France  ap- 
pealed for  help  to  the  rich  and  powerful 
Order  of  Jesus ;  and  the  viceroy  of  Can- 
ada, the  duke  de  Ventadour,  a  friend  and 
protector  of  that  order,  sent,  at  his  own 
expense,  five  fathers,  Lallemant,  Brebeuf, 
Masse,  Fran£ois,  and  Gilbert,  in  order  that 
he  might  see  "the  glory  of  God  flourish 
in  those  barbarous  lands."  These  fathers 


114  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

arrived  in  Quebec  in  July,  1625,  and  the 
order  began  its  great  career  of  heroism, 
self-abnegation,  and  domineering  tyranny  in 
North  America.  Even  to-day,  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Quebec,  the  great  wooden  churches, 
with  schools  and  convents  attendant,  lift 
their  crosses  high  above  the  little  villages, 
seeming  to  gather  the  straggling  cottages 
and  huts  as  a  hen  gathers  her  chickens  under 
her  wings,  and  show  in  their  physical  domi- 
nation the  spiritual  control  which  the  Roman 
Church  acquired  over  the  simple  French 
settlers  by  the  unflagging  energy  and  persist- 
ence of  the  Jesuit  order.  Report  says  that 
Champlain  dreaded  their  coming,  but  he  was 
too  prudent  or  £00  good  a  Catholic  to  say  so 
in  his  narrative. 

By  the  year  1627  Richelieu,  become  the 
all-powerful  minister,  had  made  himself 
Grand  Master  and  Superintendent  of  Navi- 
gation and  Commerce,  and  though  busy  with 
a  hundred  cares  at  home,  laid  his  vigorous 
hand  on  Canadian  affairs ;  he  suppressed  all 
existing  charters  and  privileges,  and  formed 
a  new  company  of  one  hundred  associates, 


QUEBEC,  1616-1635  115 

of  which  he  was  to  be  the  head.  This  new 
company  was  granted  a  perpetual  monopoly 
of  the  fur  trade,  and  a  monopoly  of  other 
commerce,  excepting  whale  and  cod  fishery, 
for  fifteen  years,  and  on  its  part  undertook 
to  plant  and  maintain  a  colony  of  several 
hundred  persons,  until  it  should  become  self- 
supporting.  •  The  company '-was  forbidden  to 
transport  to  Canada  any  persons  except 
French  Catholics.  This  measure  was  polit- 
ical rather  than  religious,  for  the  Huguenots 
at  La  Rochelle  were  again  in  revolt,  the 
king's  army  was  besieging  the  city,  and  the 
English  had  sent  Buckingham  with  a  hun- 
dred ships  to  its  relief. 

The  foreign  allies  were  driven  back  and 
the  city  captured,  but  Richelieu  did  not 
propose  that  a  colony,  founded  or  controlled 
by  rebels,  should  be  able  to  start  a  fresh 
revolt  against  the  crown  of  France,  and  offer 
alliance  to  England  and  to  Holland ;  and 
perhaps  he  realized  that,  with  the  Order  of 
Jesus  once  established  in  Canada,  there 
could  be  no  hope  of  toleration  and  peace 
unless  that  order  was  supreme  and  unvexed 
by  heretics. 


116  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

The  war  between  France  and  England  had 
a  further  effect  on  Champlain's  fortunes.  In 
the  spring  of  1628  the  little  colony  of  Que- 
bec, long  neglected,  was  looking  forward 
eagerly  to  the  supplies  it  was  to  receive  from 
the  new  company ;  but  none  came,  and  the 
settlers  were  put  on  starvation  rations.  By 
June  they  had  resolved  to  abandon  Quebec, 
and  were  building  a  pinnace  which  was  nearly 
ready  to  carry  them  to  Gaspe,  when  re- 
port came  that  English  ships  were  seen  near 
Tadousac.  Champlain  immediately  put  Que- 
bec in  as  good  condition  for  defense  as  pos- 
sible ;  and  none  too  soon,  for  in  a  few  days 
a  shallop  brought  a  demand  for  surrender 
from  one  David  Kirke,  in  the  name  of  the 
king  of  England,  Champlain  refused  abso- 
lutely, and  his  bold  front  deceived  Kirke, 
who  sailed  away,  but  as  luck  would  have  it, 
met  the  French  ships  which  had  been  fitted 
out  by  the  company  with  supplies  of  all 
kinds  for  the  colonists.  He  captured  them 
all,  and  went  home  well  content. 

Vague  rumors  of  a  sea-fight  reached  Cham- 
plain, —  but  no  certain  news.  Expecting 


QUEBEC,  1616-1635  117 

the  enemy  daily,  the  settlement  passed  the 
autumn  and  winter  in  extreme  privation. 
The  scanty  quantity  of  peas  and  beans  was 
eked  out  with  roots  and  berries.  The  winter 
and  spring  were  so  many  months  of  famine. 
Champlain  was  turning  over  desperate  plans, 
when  the  English  flag  again  appeared.  A 
small  fleet  anchored  off  Quebec.  There  was 
no  possibility  of  defense.  Champlain  sur- 
rendered upon  honorable  terms,  and  on  July 
22,  1629,  the  English  flag  was  hoisted  on 
the  rampart  of  the  fort,  and  the  captured 
cannon  announced  the  English  victory. 

The  prisoners  were  taken  to  Tadousac, 
where  Champlain  met  various  friends  who 
had  also  been  captured,  and  learned  that  a 
treaty  of  peace  had  been  agreed  upon  be- 
tween England  and  France  on  April  24,  two 
months  before  the  fall  of  Quebec.  After 
delaying  at  Tadousac  for  some  weeks,  the 
English  ships  sailed  for  England,  and  an- 
chored off  Plymouth  in  October.  Cham- 
plain  went  direct  to  London,  where  he 
conferred  with  the  French  ambassador,  and 
found  that  both  nations  had  bound  them- 


118  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

selves  to  restore,  each  to  the  other,  whatever 
should  have  been  captured  after  the  date  of 
the  treaty.  After  a  short  stay  he  returned 
to  France,  where  he  made  report  to  Eichelieu. 
Many  diplomatic  requests  were  made  to  the 
English  to  fulfil  their  share  of  the  treaty,  but 
they  held  on  to  Canada  till  1632,  when 
Charles  I.  gave  the  necessary  orders,  and 
French  ships,  bearing  various  besealed  and 
beribboned  documents,  sailed  to  Quebec,  and 
once  more,  after  three  years,  the  fleur-de-lis 
was  hoisted  on  the  ramparts. 

If  the  English  had  retained  their  conquests 
of  1629  in  Canada  and  Acadia,  English  su- 
premacy in  America,  north  of  Florida,  would 
have  been  conceded,  and  the  long  struggle 
which  ended  at  last  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham 
might  have  been  avoided.  English  colonists 
were  rapidly  outnumbering  the  French,  — 
from  1629  the  Puritan  exodus  swelled  the 
settlements  in  Massachusetts,  until  within  a 
dozen  years  there  were  26,000  colonists  in 
New  England.  During  the  same  time  the 
population  of  Virginia  was  doubling.  Lord 
Baltimore  formed  a  colony  in  Maryland,  and 


QUEBEC,  1616-1635  119 

the  conquest  of  New  Amsterdam,  shut  in  on 
north  and  south  by  the  English,  was  plainly 
imminent. 

Besides  increase  of  population,  there  were 
other  causes  of  English  strength  in  Amer- 
ica. The  principle  of  self-government  had  al- 
ready been  put  into  practice  ;  in  Virginia,  the 
House  of  Burgesses  had  been  established ; 
in  Massachusetts  the  colonists  had  the  right 
to  elect  governor,  council,  and  assembly. 
England  allowed  the  Puritans  to  found  colo- 
nies at  their  pleasure,  but  France  would  not 
allow  a  single  Huguenot  to  settle  in  French 
dominions  across  the  ocean.  The  Jesuits 
and  theology  were  masters  in  New  France, 
and,  although  the  Puritans  dominated  in 
New  England,  other  English  colonies  were 
open  to  other  sects,  Maryland  to  Catholics, 
Virginia  to  Episcopalians,  and  an  emigrant 
of  any  faith  could  find  toleration  if  nothing 
more.  Therefore,  although  the  perseverance 
of  French  settlers,  and  the  wonderful  explo- 
rations of  La  Salle  and  his  followers,  were 
able  to  make  France  possessor  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi,  fencing  in  the 


120  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

English,  the  doom  of  French  transatlantic 
empire  had  already  been  decreed,  and  the 
restoration  of  1632  was  a  vain  ceremony. 

On  the  return  of  the  French  Quebec  was 
desolate :  the  habitation  had  been  burnt; 
the  houses  of  the  Jesuit  fathers  nearly  de- 
stroyed ;  the  Indians  had  been  kicked, 
cuffed,  and  frightened  away;  only  a  few 
French  colonists,  who  had  remained  there 
by  Champlain's  advice,  gave  an  appearance 
of  life.  These  welcomed  their  compatriots 
with  joy. 

Champlain  himself  did  not  go  to  Canada 
till  the  following  year,  when  he  was  sent  out 
by  Richelieu  as  his  lieutenant,  and  resumed 
his  hard  task  as  commander  of  the  little 
settlement.  With  his  usual  energy  he  be- 
gan the  reconstruction  of  the  habitation, 
and  strengthened  the  fort.  He  reestablished 
friendly  relations  with  the  Indians,  forbade 
the  sale  of  spirits  or  wine  to  them,  prepared 
a  market  place,  a  habitation,  and  a  fort  at 
Three  Rivers,  some  twenty  leagues  up  the 
St.  Lawrence,  for  the  barter  of  furs,  and 
endeavored  to  arouse  the  authorities  in 


QUEBEC,  1616-1635  121 

France  to  the  need  of  a  strong  campaign 
against  the  Iroquois.  But  he  was  now  an 
old  man ;  the  trading  company,  eager  for  im- 
mediate dividends,  cared  little  for  the  evil 
that  might  come  after  their  day ;  and  Kiche- 
lieu  was  busy  with  many  cares  at  home. 

Harassed  by  anxieties,  Champlain  became 
more  pious  in  the  observance  of  religious 
ritual.  His  confessor,  Father  Le  Jeune,  a 
Jesuit,  for  none  of  the  Kecollet  brethren 
had  been  allowed  to  return,  wrote:  "The 
fort  seemed  like  a  well-managed  school :  in 
the  morning  at  table  M.  de  Champlain  heard 
read  aloud  some  good  history,  and  at  night 
the  lives  of  the  saints  ;  in  the  evening  there 
was  private  meditation,  and  then  prayers 
were  said  kneeling.  The  Angelus  was  rung 
at  dawn,  at  midday,  and  at  sunset,  according 
to  the  usage  of  the  Church.  In  a  word,  we 
had  reason  to  be  comforted,  seeing  a  chief 
so  zealous  for  the  glory  of  our  Lord,  and  for 
the  good  of  the  settlement." 

On  a  column  before  the  church  were 
posted  prohibitions  and  their  penalties ;  men 
must  not  swear,  neither  get  drunk,  nor 


122  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

absent  themselves  from  mass  or  divine  ser- 
vice on  feast  days.  A  pillory  was  set  up 
hard  by  as  a  warning,  and  once  a  drunken 
blasphemer  was  put  in  it  as  an  example  to 
evil-doers.  A  chapel,  dedicated  to  Our  Lady 
of  the  Recovery,  was  built  where  now  stands 
the  Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame;  and  the 
Jesuits  prayed  and  preached  to  Frenchmen 
and  Indians,  with  great  content  and  suc- 
cess. 

Age  brought  to  Champlain  a  gloomier  cast 
of  mind;  life  lost  its  adventurous  interest, 
the  color  faded  from  expected  travels  toward 
the  north,  and  from  hoped-for  voyages  to  the 
west  over  the  great  fresh-water  seas,  and  he 
turned  toward  contemplation  of  a  life  to 
come.  )  His  wife  had  remained  in  France, 
eager  to  become  a  nun,  and  well  provided 
for ;  so  he  made  his  will,  bequeathing  his 
little  property  of  4000  livres  to  the  Virgin 
Mary.  To  this  bequest  the  Jesuits  laid 
claim,  as  her  representatives  on  earth ;  but 
the  will  was  broken  in  the  French  courts  for 
some  legal  defect. 

We  of  to-day,  being  children  of  this  world, 


QUEBEC,  1616-1635  123 

had  rather  have  seen  this  wandering  Ulysses, 
to  the  last,  urging  his  comrades  westward ; 

"  for  my  purpose  holds 
To  sail  beyond  the  sunset,  and  the  baths 
Of  all  the  western  stars,  until  I  die." 

But  perhaps  we  lack  sympathy,  imagination, 
and  insight.  A  noble  man  is  likely  to  have 
a  noble  religion,  and  Champlain's  piety  never 
interfered  with  his  devotion  to  his  country. 
In  the  last  letter  of  his  which  we  have,  he 
wrote  to  Richelieu  commending  Canada  to 
his  protection. 

SIRE,  —  The  honor  of  the  commands  which  I 
have  received  from  your  Eminence  has  uplifted 
my  courage  to  render  service  of  all  kinds  with 
as  great  fidelity  and  affection  as  one  could  wish 
from  a  faithful  servant.  I  will  spare  neither  my 
blood  nor  my  life,  if  there  be  occasion  for  either. 
I  trust  that  your  Eminence  will  stoop  your 
authority  to  a  consideration  of  the  condition  of 
this  land,  which  stretches  more  than  fifteen  hun- 
dred leagues  from  east  to  west.  It  has  the  same 
latitudes  as  our  France ;  it  is  watered  by  one  of 
the  world's  noblest  rivers.  Here  live  innumera- 
ble people,  —  some  dwell  in  cities  and  villages, 


124  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

others  wander  about  hunting  and  fishing.  They 
only  need  the  help  of  Frenchmen  and  of  priests 
to  learn  our  faith.  The  beauty  and  richness  of 
this  land  cannot  be  praised  or  commended  too 
much.  Everything  stretches  out  its  arms' to  you, 
Monseigneur,  and  it  seems  as  if  God  had  given 
you  to  this  generation  for  the  very  purpose  of 
enjoying  greater  opportunities  for  good  than  any 
of  your  predecessors  had.  For  thirty  years  I  have 
been  familiar  with  this  land,  and  I  have  learned 
to  know  it  well ;  pardon  my  zeal,  Monseigneur, 
if  I  say  to  you,  that,  as  your  renown  has  spread 
to  the  east,  so  let  it  extend  to  the  west.  Make 
the  English  respect  our  rights.  Danger  from 
them  removed,  within  twelve  months,  by  the  help 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  French  soldiers,  we 
could  subdue  the  Iroquois,  and  then  worship  and 
trade  would  increase  beyond  belief. 

The  cost  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  men  is 
little  to  his  Majesty,  the  enterprise  is  as  full  of 
honor  as  could  be  wished,  and  all  for  the  glory 
of  God,  whom  I  pray  with  all  my  heart  to  give 
to  you  increase  of  prosperity  all  your  days,  and  to 
grant  to  me  to  be,  all  the  rest  of  my  life,  your 
very  humble,  very  faithful  and  obedient  servant, 

CHAMPLAIN. 

QUEBEC,  NEW  FBANCE, 

August  15,  1635. 


QUEBEC,  1616-1635  125 

The  lord  cardinal,  however,  was  straining 
every  nerve  to  break  the  power  of  Austria 
and  Spain,  and  the  petitions  of  New  France 
sounded  faint  in  his  ears. 

Champlain  was  not  destined  to  do  more 
towards  incorporating  within  the  realm  of 
his  dear  France  the  fair  new  country  beyond 
the  sea.  Sixty-eight  years  of  hard  life  over- 
came his  constitution  at  last,  paralysis  struck 
him,  and  on  Christmas  day,  1635,  he  died. 
His  confessor  said,  "  He  was  born  again  in 
Heaven ;  at  least  we  can  say  that  his  death 
was  filled  with  blessings.  I  believe  that  God 
has  done  him  this  favor,  in  consideration  of 
the  good  that  he  had  done  for  New  France, 
where,  we  hope,  one  day  God  will  be  loved 
and  served  by  us  French,  and  will  be  known 
and  worshiped  by  the  Indians.  It  is  true 
that  he  has  lived  in  great  justice  and  equity, 
in  perfect  faithfulness  toward  his  king,  and 
toward  the  gentlemen  of  the  company ;  but 
at  death  he  perfected  his  virtues,  with  senti- 
ments of  piety  so  great  that  we  all  mar- 
velled." 

Champlain  was  very  noble  in  public  and 


126  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN 

in  private  life,  simple,  just,  honorable,  and 
,kind,  with  a  tenderness  toward  the  weak, 
and  a  steadfast,  patient  loyalty  in  trouble, 
that  with  his  " insuppressive  mettle"  make 
him  one  of  the  worthiest,  if  not  the  worthiest, 
man  in  the  early  history  of  North  America. 


fttoettfi&e 

Ebctrotyped  and  printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Co. 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.S.  A, 


14  DAY  USE 

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